Charlie McKee
by 956kitty
Summary: How would the movie go if Val had a sister? Would they be close or would she be a rebel? Would she even live through the dangers of graboids?
1. Stampede

Val, Earl and I are out by a few cliffs, working on some fencing. I don't really work with them but I still help out as much as I can. We spent the night out here because it seemed pointless to drive into town and then drive all the way back out here. I was just waking up when Val came back from the cliff for some reason. He had a scrunched up look on his face.

"What the hell's matter with you?" I ask.

"I got a damn wedge." Val responds. "Hey, hop off the truck. I gotta try something."

I do what he says and he walks over to a sleeping Earl. "Good morning, Mr. Basset. This is your wake up call. Please move your ass."

I try hard not to laugh. I see Val look over at a few cows and get a crazy smile on his face. The same smile he gets when he gets a stupid idea. Val jumps on the side of the truck and starts bouncing it, screaming, "Stampede! Stampede, Earl! Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

I join in and start bouncing the truck until Earl crawls out of it and lands on his back. He starts breathing heavy but stops when he sees we're messing with him. "You dumb shits."

"Hey, like brother like sister, huh?" I laugh as Earl glares at me.

We both jump off and start laughing out loud. Earl started ranting. "I was in a stampede once. 300 heads going—"

"Going hell-bent for the horizon." Val and I finished. "Now exactly how many cows are required for a stampede, Earl? I mean is it like three or more? Is there a minimum speed?"

"I wish a stampede up your ass."

I just laughed at the two. They acted like brothers. They were getting some smokes out. I didn't smoke. I didn't like the smell and it wasn't good for you plus I was way too young. Earl needed to borrow a cigarette and lighter from Val. They both had their cigarettes lighted and Earl was giving Val a hard time. "No breakfast?"

"I did it yesterday. It was baloney and beans."

"No. It was eggs. I did eggs. Over easy."

"The hell you did. Baloney and beans. It's your turn."

Earl raised his fist, waiting for Val. He did the same and they did rock paper scissors. Earl did scissors and Val did paper. Val turned to me and we did the same. I did rock and he did scissors. He lost. He turned and talked to Earl. "Well, I guess when I'm your age I'll forget what I eat too."

Earl and I were just sitting by the truck, waiting for Val to make us breakfast. Sure Val was a good brother but he never asked me what I wanted and never really took care of me. Earl took care of me and made sure I was ok when I got hurt or was upset. The only time Val and I hang out together is when we are pulling a prank or both acting like little kids.

"Don't worry. You know he cares about ya, Charlie. Just got to give him some time." Earl exclaimed to me. He's like a father to me sometimes.

Next thing I know we're in the middle of nowhere, putting up barbed wire fences. Earl was holding them down while Val nailed them. I was making sure they were tight enough so they wouldn't be to lose.

"Owe! God Damn it!" Earl yelled. Looks like he just scraped himself on the wire. Again. "Let me ask ya. Where's a job for intelligent men?"

"Hey!" I say.

"Sorry. A job for intelligent people."

"Well show me some; I'll ask 'em." Val said.

"No I mean if we were real serious about money, we'd quit being hired—"

"Handy men, Earl, we are handy men." Val explains.

"People!" I say again.

"Yeah, yeah. We could quit this job and find ourselves some real employment."

"Now are you really gonna give up all this personal freedom? I don't know." Val questions. He starts hammering on the nail 10 times but missed every time except the last hit. Earl and I had to look at it to make sure it went in.

I'm now in the bed of the truck while the boys are in the cab. The road is so bumpy I can't stay still for a millisecond. I turned around to face ahead and opened the back window.

"Hey, boys. What are we doing today?" I ask.

"Garbage day." Earl said.

"Oh, man. Already? Hey what's Nester paying us?" Val questions.

"$50. Now that's $47 bucks more than we got." Earl responds.

"Damn. We're poor bastards." I butt in.

"Well ain't you just a little ray of sunshine." Val stated. "Burt and Heather's place is closer. How about we do the linoleum today and the garbage tomorrow."

I just shake my head, knowing it's not gonna work. Earl confirms it. "Nester's not home tomorrow. We don't dig today, we don't get paid today. Damn it, Valentine, you never plan ahead. You never take the long view. Here it is Monday and I'm already thinking its Wednesday… it is Monday, right?"

Val ignores him and we're just about to pass someone. Val speaks up first. "Hey, who the hell's that? That's not the grad student, is it?"

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'.

"Nah, he graduated. Must be the new one."

"New one? That's supposed to be a girl." Val looks excited and turns quickly to go meet her. I start bouncing all over the place and Val starts listing off the things he looks for in a girl. "You will have; long blonde hair, big green eyes, world class breasts, ass that won't quit, the legs that go ALL the way up."

He stops suddenly and the dust is all over my face. I grab my hat and start swinging it in front of my face to clear the air a bit. I start banging on the window, "Damn it, Val. I can't breathe."

"Sorry." He responds. He sounds upset. I turn around and I see why. The girl is nothing what he hoped for. Pretty much the opposite.

The girl looks up and comes over to us. "Hi. I'm Rhonda. Rhonda LeBeck. I'm up here for the semester." She shakes hands with Earl.

"Yeah, uh, Geography." Earl guesses.

"Geology." Val rolls his eyes.

"Seismology." I know I'm right because I pay attention.

She smiles at me and nods her head. "Yeah, seismology. Earthquakes. You three must be Val, Charlie, and Earl. I've heard all about you."

"We deny everything."

"Hey listen, I got a question for you. Do you know if anybody's doing any drilling, or blasting, or any of that kind of stuff." Rhonda asks.

"Around here? No ma'am." Val laughs.

She looks a little offended at be laughed at but covers it up. "Well, I'm supposed to be reading these seismographs and I've been picking up some strange readings. We've never recorded anything like this."

"Well, we'll ask around, see if anyone's heard anything." Earl offers.

"Thanks. Anyway, sorry to bother you." She says.

Val starts the truck back up and starts to drive away. Earl shouts out, before leaving, "No problem. Hope you get everything sorted out."

She seemed nice. Smart and different from all the other girls I've met. Sure she and Val were completely different but you know what they say. Opposites attract. The boys start a conversation again but they forgot that the window is open so I can hear them.

"You know we could, uh take a look at those seismographs for her." Earl suggested.

"The hell do we know about seismographs?" Val asks.

"Nothing." Earl says plainly. "But sure is a slick way to get to know her."

"Why?"

"Damn it, Valentine. You don't go for any girl unless they fit that stupid list of yours from top to bottom."

"Well sure."

"Yeah and it's dumber than my hind end. They're all the same. Dead weight. Oh, I broke a nail." Earl shivers. "Makes my skin crawl. Why don't you go for a girl that can help out with Charlie? She never had a woman role model and it must suck for her to put up with everything we do all the time."

"What? Are you shitting me!? She can take care of herself. Charlie doesn't need anybody to look after her or take care of her. She knows how to cook and clean. Besides she's barely acts like a girl." Val nearly yells.

That pissed me off. "Well gee, thanks, Val!" I slam the little window shut.

They were yelling so I could hear them over the wind from outside. Earl sounds ticked off as well. "You see what you just did? Why the hell are you so stupid!?"

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that! I meant that she's like one of us! She doesn't even dress or talk like a girl. She acts like one of us. There ain't nothing else. Charlie has us, she doesn't need anybody else!" Val snaps back.

As we drive the long way back to Perfection, my anger went away. I was just a little hurt that Val thought that I didn't need anybody. We turned a corner and stopped at Chang's store. We saw Melvin hitting a car with his basketball. He might be a pain but so am I at times so we still get along with each other. We call ourselves twins, we're so close. As we all got out Val yelled to him, "Hey pizza face!"

"Melvin. Melvin! Touch that truck and die." Earl threatens.

"Oh, man. I'm really shaking." Melvin torments.

Earl just glares at him for a second before opening the door for me. I give Melvin a smile before entering the store. He gives me a small smile back. We both enter and sit down next to Val, who is sitting by Burt and Heather. Burt was talking about the bullets he ordered.

"Hi, guys. How's it going?" Heather asked. She's always nice. Especially to me, she acts like a sister sometimes even though she's way older.

"Well, uh, ran into that college girl, Rona." Val complained.

"Rhonda. She's having some trouble with her… uh… things." Earl forgot what they're called.

Burt was talking all about things I didn't understand until I heard Val say, "Yeah, Burt. The way you worry, you won't be able to survive World War 3."

Burt just laughs and responds, "We'll see, we'll see."

Chang asked us to fix one of his machines but Earl says we have to go. I start to head out to the truck and I heard Val say, "Oh, yeah. See, we plan ahead. That way, we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it me."

I rolled my eyes and walked out the door, waiting for the boys. How much more stupid can Val get? Earl walks out and gets in the driver seat. Val soon follows and looks up at me. He looked sorry. "Hey, Charlie. I'm sorry what I said back there. I didn't mean for it to offend you. I don't realize how hard it is for ya."

"It's alright. Some people don't mean half the things they say."

He smiles at me and gets in the truck. I smile to myself, knowing everything's ok now. Boy was I wrong. It was only the beginning.


	2. What the Hell?

Val, Earl, and I were at the garbage field, cleaning it up. Earl was using the Kat while Val and I were picking up bags of garbage. Val picked one up and the bottom ripped so everything fell out. I laughed over the noise of the Kat. Val threw the bag down and stalked over to the old couch. I followed him and Earl did also.

"Cocktail?" Val asked Earl while grabbing a beer.

"You bet."

"Well nobody handles garbage better than we do."

"Well, yeah. That's only cuz we're the only ones that'll do it." I announced.

"Come on guys. Now this is low. I mean, we have got to set our sights a little bit higher." Val explained to us.

Next thing I know is that we're doing the linoleum while Melvin is just sitting on the porch, in the shade, relaxing. He can act like a huge asshole but he is still like another brother to me.

"Hey, Melvin. Why don't you give us a hand? Most of this shit is yours anyway." Val told the kid.

"Listen, run to the store and pick me up a six pack. I'll pay for it." Melvin teased. I tried to hide my smile, knowing Melvin was trying to lighten up my day and he was sorta serious.

"Son, beer is for adults." Earl yelled. "Not planning a head is what keeps us doing jobs like this."

"Not doing jobs like this is you dragging your feet." Val claimed.

"Are you going to stand there and tell me in broad day light that I'm the reason we're still in Perfection. You know how close I am to leaving this place right now." Earl snapped.

"I'll follow that little bluff. How close?"

All of a sudden the pipe came loose and the liquid came squirting out. Melvin just laughed while I screamed and ran right toward him, under the canopy. I didn't get hit unlike Val and Earl. They both got a full blast.

All three of us were loading the truck with our stuff, heading to Bixby. I got all my stuff so I was sitting in the truck. I really didn't want to go. This life is all I've ever known. I don't plan on changing that but I guess that is being rearranged. Plus I can't leave my _twin_ here alone. Twins aren't meant to be separated from each other. Even if they aren't blood related. Earl was making sure everything wouldn't fall out. Val came out with a vacuum cleaner.

"Don't forget the TV." Val said with a map in his mouth.

"What are you bringing that vacuum cleaner for man?" Earl asked him.

"I like this vacuum cleaner. It's good for parts. Besides, maybe we'll hire a maid. Now have you thought about that Earl?"

"Get in the truck." Earl demanded.

They both got in and I just had to ask. "Really, Val? Hire a maid? Oh, Earl don't forget the sign."

Earl grabs the sign while backing up and Val answers my question. "What? It's possible."

"We don't have any money for ourselves, none the less a maid, asshole." I respond.

"We could work on it."

"Would you two shut up?" Earl snapped.

We keep driving down the road and we see Nancy trying to flag us down. We stop and she says hi. Val tells her we're heading to Bixby and she doesn't believe us until she see's our stuff in the back of the truck.

"Oh my gosh, you really are." She said, surprised. "Listen guys, I don't need firewood. I have the big order to fill and I have to finish my new pottery kiln. Come on, it'll be at least a month's work." We just shook our heads. "I'll throw in lunches." Almost got us. "And beer." She tempted the boys but for me, "And Pepsi."

The three of us looked at one another but we had to say no. We continued to drive and the boys were nearly screaming how they said no to free beer.

"Now there ain't nothing, and I mean nothing, between us and Bixby." Val commented. We all laughed and high fived. We drove for a few more minutes until we passed someone on one of those  
electric towers. Val soon realized that it was Edgar Deems. We pulled over and got out of the truck.

"Man oh man he sure must've been drunk this time." Earl said. "Edgar get your butt down from there!"

He never moved and we knew one of us had to go up there. I turned to Earl and we did rock paper scissors. Earl had scissor. I had paper. "Damn it." I muttered. I really didn't want to go up there. I turned to Val and we did the same. I did rock. He did scissors. I smirked a little.

"Wipe that smirk off yer face, _Charlotte_." My face went blank and I was about to punch him but Earl held me back. I hate being called by my first name. Val sighed and said, "Thank you, Edgar." Sorry, bro. You gotta go up there, not me.

Val started climbing up there and I heard him mumbling, "You owe me on this one, you damned old boozehound. One of these days your gonna have to get your ass on a wagon and stay there. It's not like I have better things to do than climb towers and drag your hairy ass down."


	3. We're Dead

It turns out that Edgar Deems was dead. He died from dehydration. He sat up there for three or four days with a Winchester rifle. The three of us were discussing all this while we were still heading to Bixby.

"You reckon he hated perfection more than us?" Earl asked. "Suppose he wanted to kill himself?"

"Come on, somebody must have chased him up there." Val answered.

"You mean someone ain't that scared of a Winchester rifle?" Earl asked again. "Then what'd they do? Camp out down below and just waiting for him to die?"

Then I saw something that will most likely scar me for the rest of my life. We were passing old Fred's tiny farm. We saw all his sheep were missing and replaced with blood.

"What the hell?" Earl questioned. He stopped the truck and got out with Val. I was about to get out but then Earl turned to me and slammed the door. "You're staying in here, got it? Do. Not. Move." He gave me that look to know that he wasn't kidding.

I was just sitting in the truck for a few minutes, waiting for the boys. I saw them running straight back to the truck. They jumped in and turned around to head back into town.

"What are you doing? What happened? What's wrong?" I was so confused.

Val turned to me slowly and said old Fred was dead. They found his head under his hat, under the ground. My eyes go wide in fear. I start to shake and Val notices. He turns back to face the road and puts his arm around me and started to say things like, "It's going to be ok." And "We're not going to get hurt." And "You're safe. No need to worry."

I just couldn't believe him as much as I wanted to. We were passing two construction workers and Earl stopped to warn them. "Get the hell outta here! There's a killer on the loose."

"What?" One of them asked like he didn't believe us.

"A murderer, man! A real psycho! He-He's cutting people's heads off. I'm not kidding!" Earl shouted as he drove away.

We kept driving into town until we got to Chang's Store. We busted in there with Melvin following us. Val went to use the phone. Melvin kept asking questions. "Are you serious? Old Fred's dead? Is that what you said? Come on, no bull shitting me, man?

"'Yea something like that."

Everyone started yelling at once I could hardly hear them at all. Melvin came up to me and asked, "Come on, Char. Is this for real?" Melvin was the only one in this town that calls me Char and I'm the only one that calls him Mel.

I looked to him sadly and answered, "Yea. It wasn't a pretty sight, Mel. I'm gonna have nightmares for the rest of my life." After I said that, he actually looked scared for once in his life.

Val and Earl started to head back into the truck so I started to follow them. Earl got in and I was about to hop in but Val came out of nowhere, grabbed my arm, and dragged me away.

"Now, where the _hell_ do you think you're going?!" Val snaps.

"I'm going with you guys. Just like I always do." I was a little taken back.

"Yea, sure. You're staying here until we get back."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because it's safer if you stay here with everyone else!"

"Oh, sure, now you're being a protective brother! Where were you when I needed you, huh? You were never there for me then, so why should you be here for me now?!" I felt bad instantly for saying that but it was the truth.

I thought I saw a flash of pain go through his eyes but he quickly hid it with anger. "You're staying here, Charlotte. Whether you like it or not."

He grabbed my arm again and pushed me toward Melvin. He caught me and looked up in surprise. Val pulled Melvin aside and talked to him. He and Earl left and Melvin came back to my side.

"What did he tell ya?" I couldn't help but ask.

"He said I had to watch over you until they got back."

I nodded and walked around town with Melvin following me. It was silent but the good silence when you don't need to talk. I knew he heard what I had said to Val and wanted to ask but didn't know how to say it.

"It's true what I said." I admitted. "I didn't mean to say it but it just came out. We both know he never helped me out when I needed comfort. It was always you or Earl. Earl is like a dad to me. You're more like a brother to me than Val ever was."

Melvin looked at me sadly and commented, "Well, have you tried to tell him that? Maybe he just thinks you don't need him, the way you're growing up."

I look at him, shocked. "Wow. Since when did you become deep." I laugh at him.

"Well I'm sorta different when I'm around you." He cracks a smile.

We head back into the store. I told Heather what happened. I mean everything, like what we both said and how he threw me into Melvin. She told me he was just stressed out. I went back to hang out with Melvin. We are both having a Pepsi, making funny faces at each other.

We hear Mindy speak up and say, "Hey. Val and Earl."

I get super confused and jump outta my seat and look through the window. It was them. We all come out the door to meet them. Burt speaks first. "I thought you two were heading to Bixby."

"Ya'll are not gonna believe this." Val ignored Burt.

"MOM!" Mindy gasps.

I go to look and see something slimy and torn attached to the back of the truck. Earl pushes me back carefully; pulling a pistol out to make sure it won't do anything.

Everyone says something in their own disgust. I back up and Melvin takes my arm and pulls me into his chest. I turn around and hide my eyes in the front of his shirt.

"Where'd you get it?" Melvin asked.

"I didn't know we had it." I heard Val answer.

Everyone was guessing what they thought it was while Burt and Heather examined it. They thought it was like a mutation of some sort.

"Just one of these couldn't eat up Fred and his whole flock of sheep." Burt announced.

"So you think there more of 'em out there?" Val questions, voice emotionless. He must still be pissed.

We all turn to look at him thinking the same thing.

_'We're all dead."_


	4. Sitting, Waiting, and Eavesdropping

It was dark out and Chang was getting some money for taking pictures of us with the little, slimy monster. I refused to but Melvin wanted to mess around like usual. I was getting tired of being upset and working so I decided to join him. We were both taking some candy from behind the counter until Chang told us to get outta there and pulled us away.

Melvin and I like to tease ourselves sometimes. When we are both up to no good we call ourselves CharMel. Both of our nicknames put together. He pulled me to the back and showed me some basketball tricks. The adults were talking business.

"Hey can you show me how to do that?" I asked as he twisted the ball on one finger.

"Yeah, sure. It's easy." He explained everything like three times and I still couldn't get it.

"Aw, screw it." I just threw the ball across the room.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing the damn thing, huh?!" Val snaps at me while giving me a cold glare.

He never gave me that look before and never snaps at me either. Tears well up in my eyes and I just turned around. Melvin went to get his picture taken with the little monster but when he came back he saw that I was upset. He sat me down in a chair and sat next to me.

He started showing me ways how to flip people off. He knew that always cracked me up. I started laughing and soon he did too. I overhead the adults talking about who will go to Bixby on a horse. They all turn to Val and Earl except three. Melvin, Earl, and Heather turn to me. They are the only ones that know I love horses and that I try to ride them as often as I can. I just shake my head at them, silently saying I was not going anywhere with Val. The three of them just give me pitied looks.

The very next morning, everyone was outside, watching Val and Earl saddle up. Everyone except me and Melvin. We were making a stupid little prank on everyone. I know they all think I'm mature and grown up but they don't realize I'm still a kid. I need to act like one. And CharMel is always fun for the two of us.

As much as I didn't want to, I grabbed the slimy monster and tied it around Melvin's neck while he put me in a fake choke hold. We were laughing silently and then grew serious to make everything work.

We come busting out the door, me looking like I'm about to drop dead while Melvin screams, "AHH! IT'S GOT US! IT'S GOT US!" Everyone jumps out of the way, Mindy screams, and Burt points the giant gun at us. We both drop to our knees and start laughing out loud.

"MELVIN! CHARLIE!" Chang screams at us.

We continue laughing until we hear Burt. "Damn it, you two. You two came that close. Too close. No more games."

"Melvin. One of these, I'm gonna kick your ass." Earl points to him and to me. "Charlie. You better run girl, cause your gonna be in big trouble when we get back." I gulped and nodded, wide eyed, knowing he was dead serious.

Right before Val and Earl left, Earl gave me a 'be careful and stay outta trouble' look while Val game me a disappointing look and an even sadder look. I felt really bad but couldn't help feel happy knowing that I just had a little bit of fun just like a normal kid would.

As we watched the two leave, Melvin was leaning on a wooden pole with his arm around me and my head leaning on his shoulder. Some people would confuse us for twins; others would confuse us for a couple. Either way, we would both laugh and say twins.

We all headed back inside and sat down at different tables. I was so tried and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I closed my eyes and laid my head on the table. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

I must have fallen asleep for a long time because before I knew it, someone was shaking me awake. I try to swat them away but they kept shaking me. I finally had enough so I popped my head up and groaned. "What?"

I look up and I see Earl looking down at me. He gives me the sign to move so I get up and he sits down. When I'm about to walk away, he pulls me right back down, onto his lap, next to Val. I know something bad must have happened for them to be back with Rhonda here too.

They ran into the things that are doing all the killing and Val was describing them. "No, no, no. The snake things are ju-ju-just their tongues. These animals are HUGE!"

He and Earl were the closest so I could hear them loud and clear. I leaned my head back on Earl's shoulder and closed my eyes again. I didn't really listen to anybody else except Val and Earl.

"Hey Walter. Where's Burt and Heather?" Earl asked, quietly.

I didn't hear his response but I faintly heard Melvin say,"Yeah, aren't you supposed to come up with a theory or something?"

I almost had to laugh at that but I didn't move. I heard Earl again. "Doesn't matter where they come from."

I heard Val snap a lighter shut and demanded, "Walter. Forget the damn name. Now me and Earl think we better get the hell outta this alley." I heard Nancy's voice but then I heard Val's voice farther than last time. "Yeah, that's how it works."

Earl picked me up and gently placed me back into the chair, thinking I was asleep. Everyone else did too I guess cause they started talking about me.

"Melvin." Val calls. "Did Charlie sleep at all this morning?"

"Yeah. She fell asleep right after you guys left."

"Well, shit. That had to have been around what? 5:00? What time is it now?" Earl asks.

"Uh, maybe around 2:00. Why?" Rhonda joins in the conversation.

"She usually sleeps late but like 10 or 11. Not this late. She slept last night and this morning now this afternoon too. Why the hell is she so tired?" Val nearly yells, concern dripping out of his voice.

I heard Melvin mumble something but I didn't quite catch it. Earl told him to say that louder. I heard Mel almost shout, "Maybe because she had a lot of things to think about."

"Like what?" Nester asks, like it was his business.

"That Val doesn't care for her." Mel simply said.

It was true. It was like he could read my mind but Val roared at the top of his lungs, "BULLSHIT! She is all I care about! There isn't a damn thing in the world that is more important to me than her." That just made my day to hear him say he cares about me. He's just doesn't show it.

I moan and start to stir, making it look like I just woke up. I open my eyes and see everyone is staring at me. Just staring. But not Earl and Melvin. They have smirks. The ones that say they know I was awake and heard everything. I try my best to look innocent and ask quietly, "What?"


	5. The Found Us

I was fully awake and I heard Melvin and Chang trying to come up with names. I heard that the monsters sense vibrations through the ground. If it's just above a whisper, a tiny footstep, or a little floorboard creaks, they would find us.

I hear Val yell, "Hey, hey, hey. Wake up! Now look." He jumps over the counter and grabs the little map and puts it in front on everyone. "You see their headed right for us. They trapped Edgar here." He pointed to one spot away from our town. "Grabbed old Fred right here." He pointed closer to the town. "Nailed those two suckers on the road." He got closer to the town. "And the doctors place is right here." He was right next to us now. "Now this valley is just one long smorgasbord. We. Have. Got. To. Get. Out."

"I'm going to go find Mindy." Nancy said.

"Oh, she's ok; we saw her playing down the street." Melvin called out to her as we both went outside.

He started playing with his basketball and he told me a funny plan. He was gonna scare Earl. After a few minutes we got into out positions. CharMel was back in play. I got next to the window and opened it up and crouched right down below it. Melvin tossed the ball into the window when he screamed, like he was being attacked. I heard Earl yell as he dropped his beer and caught the ball. Melvin started laughing and called, "I scared ya, didn't I?"

"You little ass wipe. One day your gonna be shitting this basketball." Earl called out to Melvin as he stopped laughing.

I couldn't help but laugh at that threat. I laughed out loud and when I looked up I saw Earl looking down at me through the window. I gave him a small smile and a little wave. All he did was give me the little _"I'm-watching- you"_ sign. I nodded as he went back inside and say to the girls, "Pardon my French."

I tried to keep a straight face after that. Melvin and I were laughing our butts off as we walked farther and farther. He was dribbling his basketball and I was just watching it bounce up and down. When I saw it get sucked up underground, I knew we were in trouble. That tongue thing got a hold of his leg but I helped him get out of its hold. We both screamed at the same time and climbed up the flag pole as fast as we could. I had trouble getting up there but Melvin helped me up.

We heard everyone coming outside but I couldn't speak. I was in shock. I never saw anything like that before.

"Melvin! Charlie!" I hear Val call. "Damn it where is that little shit stain with my sister."

They looked up and saw us. Earl called up to us but stopped short. "Melvin, Charlie get your—" him and Val looked at each other and the next thing I knew that graboid came out of the ground. I wanted to call out to Val and Earl but my voice wouldn't work. Melvin jumped down and ran into the shed, calling me to follow him. I still couldn't move.

Everyone else escaped or ran somewhere safe. Everyone except me. I heard noise still so I looked down and my eyes went wide. Mindy was in trouble. I jumped off running towards her, Val following me, calling my name.

I ran and jumped right into Mindy. We were both on the ground and Nancy went to Mindy's side while Val came to mine. He looked so scared but not for himself. For me. I couldn't help but cry, thinking I might die and never telling Val that I'm sorry. I looked up at him with my tearstained face and whispered, "Val, I'm—"

"SShh." He quieted me. He started stroking my hair but only for a second before we had to start running again. Val ran up into the truck while the graboid was trying to suck it down. I saw another coming. I couldn't think straight so I just ran up the pole again. Everything was a blur so I couldn't process everything, it was happening so fast.

Soon enough I saw Rhonda fall out the window and start climbing up the water tower. She started to call out to me but I paid no attention to her. I wanted to respond but I was lost in my own thoughts. I saw Miguel, Val, and Earl come out onto the roof. Val went to see if Rhonda was ok. They seem to like each other. I hope so. I like Rhonda, she's a nice girl. Val needs someone like her. And I guess someone that can put up with me.

I was still sitting on the pole when Earl notices me there. "Charlie, what the hell are you doing?!" he yelled his voice snapped me out of my trance and I turned to them.

He was just watching me with a scared expression. Val look was worst. He was staring at me, almost shaking his head like he knew I might not make it. He looked like he wanted to cry. Boy did I pick a shitty spot.

"I know. I wasn't thinking, alright? I was scared shitless, what was I supposed to do?" I cried, hot tears streaming down my rosy cheeks.

I heard Melvin start shouting. "Hey, where are you guys? What's up, man? What the hell are you doing up there?"

"Melvin. Shut the hell up. Get up on your roof!" Miguel shouted in a whisper.

"But why" Melvin kept shouting. His little shed bounced and it looked like a graboid was checking it or something.

Melvin got scared and quickly climbed up and started breathing heavy as he flopped on his back. After a while he sat up and saw me. Like the idiot he is he shouted to me. "Char! What are doing? Quick get somewhere safe!"

"I can't move, Mel!" I shouted back like the idiot I am.

I heard Val shouting to everyone to get on their roofs. A graboid came and started to make the pole shake. I was losing my grip and everyone was yelling at me to jump. Before I did though, I turned to my brother and yelled out, "Val! I'm sorry." Once I said that, I jumped.

It was a huge jump and when I landed I felt like a snapped a leg but I knew I didn't when I started running. I looked around for anywhere safe. The closest thing I saw was the tiny shed where Melvin was. I started running for it. All I could see was Melvin getting ready to pull me up. The only thing I could hear was Val screaming my name and saying, "Quick get to safety!"

I made it to the shed but just when I was about to climb up, my foot got caught on something. I looked down and saw that the tongue thing grabbed my foot. I started crying, nearly screaming from fear and pain. I saw Melvin jump down from his shed and run over to me. He grabbed a sharp piece of metal and stabbed the tongue thing. It let go instantly and I tried to get up but I couldn't walk on that leg.

Melvin through one of my arms over his shoulder and slid his arms under my back and legs to pick me up. He started running back to the shed and helped me up. I crawled over to the ledge and helped Melvin up, just like he did with me.

We both made it up and lay down, breathing heavy. I turn to him as slowly as I can and whisper, "You ok?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

We look at each other, smile, sit up and give each other a hug. We started to laugh a bit, knowing what we both did was incredibly stupid but we were both ok, not including my leg. I remembered his leg got bit too. Huh, what a coincidence.

"Hey!" A voice interrupted us. We look and see Val with a concern look. "Charlie are you ok?"

"Yeah. Never been better." I answer quietly.

"Charlie?" he calls out again. I look at him, questioningly. "I'm sorry, too."

I give him a huge smile and a slight nod to let him know that we're both ok. I thought everything was slightly ok until I heard Earl. "What kind of stupid stunt was that, huh? From both of you! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did it, but can you two think a little ahead before you just go do anything you want?"

Melvin and I look over at each other, smile, turn back to Earl and answer at the same time, "No, don't think so." That got a few cracks of smiles. Even if we might be a pain sometimes, we still are pretty funny. They all know we both look out for each other.

It was silent for a while until I heard Burt's voice coming from the radio. Miguel and Earl each grabbed a leg of Val's and lowered him down to the window to grab the radio. I couldn't hear what they were all saying but I could hear their voices. I saw one of the graboids going towards Burt and Heather's place.

They must have not been listening to Val because I heard him yell, "Burt! They're under the ground. They're under. The ground. They can dig like a son of a bitch. Big monsters underground, coming right after you guys. Now get out! HURRY!"

I heard Burt's voice yelling but it got cut off. We all looked down sadly until we heard guns going on at their place. We all looked up with almost hoping faces. I was hoping Heather was ok. Sure she was tough, but these things could kill anything.

I saw Val, Earl, and Miguel get happy faces on them and they started to talk on the radio again. Either they escaped or they killed that son of a bitch. My thoughts were confirmed when I heard Miguel yell to everyone, "Burt got one! He killed one!"

We all stood up and cheered. The three guys went back to the radio, becoming serious again. Not long after, I heard Rhonda yelling for them to check something out. I couldn't see but I knew it had to be bad. Then out of nowhere, the whole store jumped and it was like the whole roof was tilting everywhere.

The graboids went over to Nancy and Mindy to check their place out. Apparently they could feel our vibrations but couldn't find us. Stupid bastards. Another one goes over to Nester. It started to rock his little camper until it fell all the way ending up with Nester on the ground. We were all yelling for him to get somewhere high. The best he did was sit on a tire until he just got sucked up and died.

We all put our heads down while Melvin was yelling at somebody to do something. He and I both knew there was nothing we could do. Val went over to the radio again. This time he was talking to Heather. It seemed like she was ok while they were talking. The smart sons of bitches must have known about their truck because we heard their car alarm going off.

I heard Rhonda yell, "Now look. The situation hasn't changed. We still have to make it to solid rock. There's gotta be some way."

"Like what?! There's nothing left that could get us to the mountains." Val snaps. The store jumped and part of the roof fell off. I was getting real scared for them.

Earl came up with a plan to use the Kat to pull an old trailer. We just needed a distraction. Earl turned to us and shouted, "Hey, Melvin! Want to make a buck?!"

He immediately stuck his middle finger in the air and shouted, "Awe, eat it!"

I tried to hold back my laughter but couldn't. I busted out laughing. That was one of the ways he taught me to flip somebody off, I just never saw it come into play until now. I stopped instantly when the whole roof was about to collapse and everyone went down. I screamed for Val and Earl to see if they were ok. I saw them pop back up in a little corner and Earl gave me thumbs up. Val gave me a small nod. We were all ok but not for long. It seems we're just starting.


	6. Rescued but Stuck

Val and Earl were arguing over who runs over to the Kat.

"I'm making the run for the Kat." Val inquired.

"Like hell you are." Earl said.

"Get real, Earl. I'm faster than you."

"Well, I'm the best at driving the Kat."

"Not while I'm around." Val shoots back.

"Listen to me. Now damn it, I'm older and I'm wiser. Plus you have to stay here to watch over Charlie if anything happens."

"Your half right. And as for Charlie, you're the one who has taken care of her the most. She trusts you way more than she trusts me."

"BULLTSHIT!"

Earl grabbed Val by the shoulder and made a fist. They did rock paper scissors. I couldn't hear the rest, they talked too quietly, but the next thing I saw made me want to jump on the ground. Val jumped down and started running for the Kat while the graboids chased the stupid little tractor.

I jumped down also but Melvin came down with me. He grabbed my shoulders and pinned me against him so I couldn't move. He started to drag me back to the little shed, but I kept fighting him. I had to get to Val. What if something happened to him?

Earl started yelling at me, "Charlie, get the hell off the ground! Are you trying to get yourself killed! He's fine! Get back on the roof with Melvin!"

I gave in but Mel had to keep a tight grip on my shoulder to make sure I didn't do anything else.

Val kept running and saw a graboid coming for him. Rhonda kicked the water pipe so they would come this way and away from Val. He finally made it to the Kat and started to come back through the town. Earl took the driver's seat, Rhonda and Val took the seats right next to him and I was sitting on Val's lap, up front with the three of them. Nobody knows this but I can't walk on my leg, hardly at all. The only one that would know would be Mel because the same thing happened to him.

We got everyone else in the back trailer and we are going for Burt and Heather. As we kept moving, I realized Val had a tight and protective grip around my shoulders. We got to their place and saw that they were on the roof, making something, mostly something explosive.

As we approached, Val started to yell at them. "Come on, you two. Let's go, we're headed for the mountains."

"If that's how we're doing it, we're going prepared." Burt shouted back.

I and everyone else kept yelling at them to hurry. They made a huge bag of bombs and have a good few guns. First Heather jumped down and then Burt. They were sorting out their guns and ammo while Melvin went up to Burt and yelled, "Hey, give me a gun. I'll take one."

"I wouldn't give _you_ a gun even if it was World War 3!"

We were on our way to the mountains again while Heather was in the back with the others and Burt was in the claw thing on the front of the Kat. We were just cruising along until I heard Burt yell, "Yo! Over there!"

We looked over and saw puffs of sand coming from the ground. I got a little scared but smiled when I heard Val say, "I don't care what they're doing, as long as they're doing it way over there."

We kept going until we fell right into a hole that the graboids must have dug. Everyone in the trailer just had a big jolt but Rhonda, Burt, Earl, Val, and I went flying on the ground. Everyone got in the trailer except me and Val. My leg got hit so it hurt worse to move it. Val was behind me, helping me back into the trailer. Earl was already in there so when he saw me, he grabbed my arms and gently pulled me down. Val hopped in the trailer right next to me and we were all confused until Val gasped out, "They dug a trap."

The graboids started to attack the trailer that we were all on. Earl gave Val a gun and grabbed one for himself. They both leaned over the edge and started shooting at the graboid/ground. Burt came up behind them and lit one of his bombs. "Hungry? Eat this." He said as he tossed the bomb on the ground. "Everybody down!"

We all ducked and we hear the bomb explode. We come back up and see if it killed either of them. "There they are!" Rhonda called.

"Did you kill one?"

"I don't know."

"No, look. There're two different dust trails." Rhonda confirmed.

"Sure made them think twice though." Val almost joked. "What the hell are in those things, Burt?"

"A few household chemicals in the proper proportion." Burt explained.

"Oh, here they come. They're coming back!" Rhonda cried.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" I asked/yelled.

"We're gonna have to make a run for those rocks." Val answered.

"I don't know, Val." Earl doubted. "Hell of a long way."

"Ye-ye-yeah man, they'll get us." Melvin agreed.

"They'll sure as hell get us if we stay here."

"Hey, Burt." Rhonda spoke up. "You have any more of those bombs?"

"We got ya covered, Rhonda."

"What if we throw one that way, the way we wanna go? Then when it explodes, I mean if it drives them away, we run like god damn bastards." Earl gave her a surprised look so she added, "Pardon my French."

"What if they don't get scared? What if they don't run?" Melvin yelled.

"I don't think it does scare them. It hurts them. They're so sensitive as hell, they've gotta run!"

"Oh, hell. She's got my vote."Burt jumped in.

"That's it. We're making a run for it!" Val stated.

My eyes go wide. That is one hell of a run. My leg won't be able to take that. I didn't have time to tell Val or Earl or anybody that I couldn't run. Burt gave Melvin a gun to calm him down and quickly lit a bomb. He threw it down and everyone ducked. Once it exploded, we all jumped out. I didn't see anybody because I was the first one running.

My leg started to give out but I kept pushing myself. I was half way until I collapsed. I couldn't get up. I almost started crying once again but I felt someone helping me up. I looked up and saw Mel picking me up by throwing me over his shoulder. He put me on his back and grabbed my legs and started running. It was almost like it was back before all this started. Him giving me a piggy back ride and running around town. But this isn't like before. We all could easily die, at any time, right now.

We all made it to the rock. Melvin put me down so I was sitting on a tall rock. He told me to stay put while he went to join the group. I heard him go up to Burt and snap, "Burt. You asshole. There's no bullets in this gun."

"Got you moving, didn't it?"

I closed my eyes for a second. The next second I opened my eyes, I saw Earl coming toward me. I put a small smile on my face. He was right in front of me with a stern look on his face. "Charlie, what happened? Are you ok?"

I put my best innocent look on my face, shrugged my shoulders and acted like everything was perfect. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

He gave me that '_don't-kid-around'_ look. I looked down and said, "Remember when I jumped off the pole? I ran towards the little shed where Melvin was. The graboid grabbed a hold of my foot. It was bleeding badly earlier but I didn't pay much attention to it because I didn't think it was too serious."

He just shook his head and pulled a hanker chief out of his back pocket I didn't even know he had. He tied it around my leg where I got bit and made sure it was tight. He looked back up at me and pulled me in for a hug. I hugged back, knowing we were both thankful that we all were still alive. For now.


	7. The Plan

It's been at least a few hours since we got on this stupid rock. Melvin and I were tossing a small pebble back and forth. Mindy was laying her head in Nancy's lap while trying to calm her down. Val, Earl, Rhonda, and Miguel were just sitting there. We were all in a small group, huddled together, but not Burt and Heather.

Everything was silent until we heard Burt talking. "If it comes to starvation, I know what I'm doing. Take one of these," he says, gesturing to a bomb, "walk right out there with the fuse lit and let 'em take me down. Boom."

"Good lord, honey." Heather says, fearfully.

"You know, that's not a bad idea." Earl comments. That gets me and Val chuckling. "No no, it gives me an idea. Goin fishin like."

Soon Val and Rhonda were tossing out a few rocks, out in the open. Burt and Earl were loading up a bomb. They spotted one, taking the bait. Earl tied up the bomb to a long rope and started swinging it.

"Oh man, you're not goin to do that lasso thing, are ya?" Val complains.

"Just cause your no good with a rope." Earl shoots back.

Val lights the bomb and yells for us to get back. Earl tosses it and we all stand back. I felt a pebble hit me on the head so I look up. I see Melvin sitting on top of the highest rock, trying to tell me to come up with him. I smile and join him as silently and as quickly as I could.

We were both lying on top, side by side, waiting for the bomb to explode. The graboid took the bomb, thinking it was food. We waited a few seconds until…BOOM! We all started cheering but stopped when the insides of the monster started flying at us. A giant spot hit Melvin in the face but just barely missed me. I got some on my hands but that's all.

I looked over and saw Melvin wiping his face and hands and I couldn't help but laugh. He just gave me a childish glare while I stuck my tongue out at him.

We started to throw rocks out in the open again, waiting for the right time. But nothing came. This started to worry all of us. Val sorta spoke our minds. "Damn, where the hell is he? Hope he didn't wise up." Just after he said that, we saw the snake things come up. We all started to get a little excited again.

Val took the bomb and Rhonda lit it. Val threw it and said, "Alright, lunch time, slime head."

I cracked a smile and the graboid took it. But after a second, it came flying back at us. Burt started yelling at us all to get back. We all ran in different directions. The force of the bomb threw me far from the safety of the rock. I started breathing hard and looked around; noticing Val, Earl, and Rhonda were about the same distance as me. We all got back up and started running like we've never ran before. Suddenly, a graboid came right in front of Val and Earl which caused then to halt, Rhonda did a slide stop, and I nearly fell on my face, I stopped so quickly.

The others, who were still on the rock, quickly started to make some noise to distract the graboid and for us to get away. After a while, it soon went back under the ground. I didn't want to make the first step so I waited until someone else did. Earl started to take a step but Val stopped him.

"Wait, wait, wait!" he whispered. He grabbed Earls arm to stop him and slowly let go. "This one ain't falling for it. This one ain't dumb. He's trying to trick us."

"Use your bomb." Earl suggested.

Val slowly looked over at him like he was insane. "It's our last _one_!"

"Well, what else are you going to use it for?!"

"Well, so what if we make it to the rocks. We'll be dead in three days, anyway."

"Well I wanna live for the three days!"

Burt saw us hesitating, waiting for us. "What the hell?! What's the matter?! Use the bomb for God's sake!"

"Throw that bomb man! Scare them away!" Miguel joined in.

"Throw the bomb!" Rhonda yelled in a whisper.

"Come on, Val. Please!" I whispered to my big brother.

Val had this determined look on his face. "This bastard ain't smarter than us."

Earl looked confused as hell. "For Christ's sake, Val."

"I'm gonna go for it." Val said as he acted like he never heard him.

"Go for what!?" Earl almost said in a normal voice.

Val stood there for a minute longer and then suddenly he just started running. The graboid came right back up, like it never left and scared the shit out of Earl. "SHIT! What the hell are you doing?!"

"I got a god damn PLAAAANNN!"

I couldn't sit there and watch my brother be killed so I ran after them. They couldn't find the lighter but soon found out Rhonda had it as she joined our little run. As we were getting closer and closer to the cliff I heard Earl yell, "This better be one hell of a great plan." We soon got to the edge of the cliff so we stopped and turned around. We saw the graboid was coming closer.

"Get ready!" Val yelled as he broke off part of the fuse.

"Light it man, light it!" Earl encouraged.

"Not yet! Not yet!" Val waited.

"Val this ain't a time for waiting!" I yelled

"Come on. What are you waiting for!?" Rhonda yelled, scared.

He saw the right time and said, "Go!" as Rhonda lit it. He threw it at the graboid but he threw it too far.

"Too far! You threw it behind him!" Earl blamed Val.

He just stood there, waiting. Rhonda and Earl ran off to the side. I would've but I couldn't. I couldn't just leave him there. He's my brother. The bomb went off and scared the graboid, as it charged for us. Val tried to grab a hold of me as he jumped but sadly part of my foot got caught and I went down, off the cliff.

Val was too happy that his plan worked and yelled, "Can you fly, you sucker!? Can you fly?"

As I went down, I screamed and my arms and hands got caught on a branch, not very far from the top of the cliff. I could barely hold myself up but I managed it. I didn't hear much, but I soon heard Val, Rhonda, and Earl yelling my name. As someone looked down, they saw me just dangling there. "Charlie!"

"Val!" I yelled back up, scared to let go.

Earl came next to Val and yelled my name, just like Val had. "Man, grab hold of my foot. I'm gonna get her." Val instructed.

As they did so, Earl lowered Val down, gently and slowly. He had his hand out to me and I had mine out too. Just as we were about to grab hold of one another, the branch I was on, started to break. It lowered even more, and almost made me lose my grip.

"No!" Val screamed.

"I'm alright. Don't worry." I yelled up to him.

We did the same thing we just did and tried it once more. We both had our hands stretched out, trying to reach the other sibling. I thought of this for a minute and realized that my big brother is trying his best to save his little sister from death, even if it meant death for himself. We were less than a centimeter apart. The branch broke off completely. I screamed, waiting for the impact my body made with the rocks.

But it never came. I looked up and there was Val, smiling down at me, holding tightly to my hand. "I gotcha. I gotcha, sweetheart. I ain't lettin go. Never again."

I wanted to cry then and there, hearing that from my brother. I held on just as tightly as I was being dragged to the top. Earl was making his best efforts and soon Rhonda joined in, trying to get us back on surface. Once we finally made it, Val landed on his back, breathing heavy as was I, and I landed on his chest.

We both looked at each other and chuckled a bit. Val sat up and pulled me onto his lap, hugging me as tightly as he could, and I did the same to him. He started rocking me back and forth as I had hot tears, streaming down my rosy cheeks. He started to stroke my hair, just like he had not too long ago to comfort me, and started to whisper in my ear. "It's ok. Everything's ok now. We're safe. Nothing's going to hurt us now. It's all over."

He helped me stand up and threw his arm over my shoulder. Earl smiled at me, and stared at me brother. Val just shrugged and said, "Well, it just suddenly hit me, you know? Stampede." He hit Val in the shoulder, in a brotherly way, laughing. As we were walking back, I heard everyone cheering. My family and I survived.


	8. Old Friends, New People

I was at Val and Rhonda's house. For the past six years, I spend one year with Val and one year with Earl. It can be fun and all but I want some excitement in my life. I don't want it to be like I'm just going to be repeating the same life over and over again.

It was Val, Rhonda, and I just sitting in the living room when we heard a knock on the door. Val went to go answer it and let the man inside. He looked sort of Spanish. He came in and sat down, looking at the three of us.

"I have come here to ask something of you." He spoke with an accent. "My name is Senior Ortega. We have had lots of problems in our oil company. Many killings. We have discovered that there were underground monsters. We were hoping you could get rid of them."

"Graboids?" Val asked.

"Si."

"Get out. We don't want anything to do with them."

"Wait, I'll go." I spoke up.

Everybody looked at me, shocked. Val pulled me away and spoke to me, quietly. "Charlie, this task is too dangerous. You can't go."

"Val, I'm sorry but you can't tell me what to do anymore."

"I know. I remember the last time I tried to tell you what to do. That's why I'm just trying to change your mind and since I know I can't, this is all I'm going to say. Be careful and stay safe."

I smile and hug him as he hugs me back. We pull away and walk back into the room. "You got a deal. I'm going." I say proudly.

"Brilliant. Brilliant! Thank you. For every graboid you kill, we will give you $50,000. They will give you double if you can catch a live one." He explains.

This makes my day even better. I knew I wouldn't get one alive. No way in hell. I thought it was going to be a regular, boring day but it turns out it wasn't. Who knows, I might even meet some new people and start a new life.

I spent hours driving down to Mexico. I pulled in and I was greeted three new people. Pedro, Julio, and Kate. They were all very nice. I spent a few days there relaxing, taking a little break from everything until I get down to business.

The next morning I got up, I started loading up my truck. I packed lots of dynamite and explosives. I was taking the last box into my truck when I saw another truck pull up. I saw some people get out and stare my way but I didn't pay any attention to them.

I kept walking until I heard Kate yell, "Charlie, look out!"

Before I can respond, I trip and fall and end up dropping the dynamite boxes and they go all over the place. I sit up, feeling stupid and start to pick them up. I see another pair of hands help me.

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem." The person says, sounding like a guy.

He hands me the box and I set them in the truck. The guy follows me and leans against the truck. "Do you need help with anything else?"

"No, I think I am ok now. Thank you." I respond. I look up for the first time and saw what he looked like. He was about my age, around 20. He had short brown hair, wearing dog tags, with a goofy grin on his face that could make anyone smile. He had a cute hat on along with some leather gloves. I couldn't help but stare; he was too cute to look away from. I found him staring at me with the same expression.

I snapped out of my trance and shook his hand. "My name's Charlotte. But you can call my Charlie if you want."

"Charlie? That's a nice name. My name's Grady. It's nice to meet you." He went to shake my hand but instead he kissed it with a smile. I couldn't help but blush.

"It's nice to meet you too."

Before either one of us could say anything I hear a familiar voice yell out, "Girl, what the hell do you think you're doing here? Are you trying to end your life earlier than what it's supposed to be?"

I look over and see a familiar face walking towards me. I smile and run toward him. Earl catches me when I jump up to hug him. I see him smile but I can tell his is still pissed off about something.

"I see you have already met Grady."

"Yea I just met him. You know him?"

"Uh, sort of. He came along with me and ended up convincing me that this could be 'my big second chance'. But another reason why I came down here was to see ya. I heard you came down and I couldn't let you do this alone. Did you really think you were going to be doing this all by yourself?"

"Well, I don't know. It's not like there's a whole lot to do with my life. Not many interesting things happen so why not do this. I need some kind of excitement in my life."

"Yea, well you could have called me or something to let me know what you're doing. Did you even talk to Val about this?"

"Yes, I did. I told him that he couldn't tell me what to do anymore and he told me that all I need to do is be careful and stay safe."

"You know what; I don't even want to get in this with you right now." Earl complained as he walked away.

I huffed and turned around to find Grady standing there. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It's not usual for us to get into it like that."

"No problem. All he wants to do is to try to protect you." Grady says, softly.

"Yea, I know. I like to know that he cares but it can just be really annoying." I explain.

"Yea, I hear ya."

"Hey do want to go get something to drink?"

"Sure, that sounds great."

I might not have had my own room and all but we both went into the room I was staying in and asked him what he wanted. He said coke would be ok for him. So I grabbed two cans of coke and we both sat on the edge of my bed.

"So, uh, Kate told me that you and I were going to be sharing a room for tonight." Grady announced.

"Really? That will be kind of cool." I respond.

"Yea, so what are you going to do with your life? What are you gonna do with your money?" he asks.

"I don't know. All I have is my brother Val and Earl. I had a friend who was like a twin brother but once I moved away, we never had any contact after that. Not a lot of people to be with and making a living, huh? But for moneywise? I don't know. I don't really give a shit about money. I usually save it not spend it."

"What, you don't have a boyfriend?" Grady jokes.

I shake my head, slowly. He looks sorry he asked. I shake it off, like I always do. Ever since the first encounter with graboids when I was 14, I have always been a lot tougher. I haven't cried since the day I almost died and Val saved me, six years ago.

"So what about you, you got a girlfriend? What are you gonna do with your money?" I question him.

"Nah, I haven't found the right girl yet. And for the money, I'm thinking theme park. It will be awesome! There will be so many scary rides and even video games!"

I start to laugh. He was chuckling, smiling at me. After we both calmed down, we found ourselves staring at one another. We both started to lean in but when we were so close, there was a knock on the door. We both pulled away as fast as we could, blushing, and I went to answer the door.

I opened it and saw it was Kate. "Hey, Charlie. I was hoping you and I could go over the map with Earl. Unless you're busy." She says, seeing Grady's and my red face.

"No, no, it's ok. We're not doing anything." I try to make known. I look back at Grady and see he has the same kind of sad face I probably have.

Kate and I walk out to the office and start looking over the map. Earl is supposed to be meeting us soon so Kate starts a conversation. "So, you and Grady, huh?"

"What?! No, nothing is going on. Besides I just met him today. How can there be anything going on?"

"Oh, come on, Charlie. We both now that love can work in mysterious ways. For example; I met Earl today. I never thought I would meet someone like him, yet I barely know him. You never know what life can throw at ya." She winks at me, knowing about Grady.

I blush and at the same moment, Earl walks in. "Hey." He just stands there like an idiot.

"Hi, come on it."

He walks in and starts to speak again. "So, uh, we were gonna look over some maps."

"Right. Um, coffee?"

"Black." Earl answers.

"How were those _burritos_ anyway?"

He hesitated until he answered, "Good, good."

"Yea, sorry about that."

They kept making small talk, talk I wasn't really interested about. I just walked out to my truck, making sure everything was pack and loaded. We agreed to take my truck instead and if anything happens to it, then we use Earl's truck.

I hear a lot of chains and cans being dragged. I turn around and see Grady dragging a chain with cans attached to it, looking upset. He practically throws the chains in the back of the truck while I'm sitting in the cab of the truck. I hop out and walk over to him. I put my hand on his shoulder and smile comfortingly. He turns around and smiles big when he sees it's me.

Pedro kind of ruins the moment when we find him staring at us. Grady turns to him and says, "Moonstros."

I didn't understand it but Pedro apparently did and said "Ah, si, si."

"What did you say to him?" I ask, curious.

"No idea." Grady said, popping up the collar on his jacket.

I smile and shake my head. He starts to chuckle a little too. Before we could do anything else, Julio came and started talking. "Miss. McKee, Mr. Hover. Over here please."

We walk over to where he was, setting up and explaining to us about the seismograph. He looks at us with a fascinated expression. "You know, this is really none of my business but I have to ask. You guys are going out there, alone? You don't want to take with you like… the whole army of Mexico?"

I was gonna blow up on him but Grady beat me to it, his voice almost sounding cold. "Let me explain something to you, Julio. Graboids, they got no eyes, they hunt by sound. Now if you make a noise, even a little footstep, they're gonna come after you. We get a bunch of people running around, graboids are gonna spread out all over the place. No, we want them all to come to us."

"So you guys are what? You guys are the bait?"

Grady got a devilish grin on his face as both of us answered, "That's the plan."

After we were done by the truck, we both went to our room. He lay in one bed and I laid in the other. We were on opposite sides of the room but we were still facing each other. We started whispering, quietly. The reason why, I have no idea.

"So are you excited for tomorrow? We get to go out and kill graboids!".

"Grady, this isn't some kind of video game you play. This is life or death. When I had my first encounter with them, they almost took everything I cared about away from me. They almost killed me a few times too." I state, matter of factly.

"I know that. I'm just saying this is the most exciting thing that has happened in my entire life." He says matter of factly, mocking me.

"Same here." I whisper, looking straight at him. We both smile at each other until I flip on my other side and fall asleep and he does the same.


	9. Search and Found

We all got up early that morning and went to the truck. We agreed Earl would drive while Grady and I sat in the passenger seats. Earl was looking at the seismograph and driving at the same time for a little bit and Grady was letting the wind blow in his face. I kind of admired him without anyone noticing.

"OK, so, uh, that's us." Earl spoke up, snapping me out of my thoughts, pointing to the little blue square on the screen. "That's our truck."

"My truck." I muttered.

"It looks like everything's working ok." Earl ignored me.

"Well sure it is, Earl." Grady smiles. "This is high-tect professional operation here."

"Those are some pretty big words for ya, aren't they Grady?" I tease.

He laughs and shoulder bumps me. "Hey, we got a good plan going. 50,000 apiece, baby. HO!" He turns away; looking out the window then quickly turns back to us. "You know, I'm gonna get mine all in one. Just…STACKED!"

"Well if I make any money this time, I'll invest it. Conservative ably."

"I'm gonna save it until I know I need it." I say, shaking my head at the two.

Grady starts looking around until his eyes stop on Earl's face. "Hey, you shaved!"

"What?" Earl asked, clearly confused.

"No, it's just I realized you shaved."

"So what? A man can shave, can't he?"

Grady stares at Earl with a knowing look on his face. "No, of course. Your right…she's a babe."

Earl just shook his head and I look down. Men are so stupid sometimes. I keep my head down and start picking at my fingers. It was an old habit I used to do when I was younger. Val and Earl always tried to get me to stop, but I never did. We keep driving in silence.

I didn't now Grady was watching me the whole time until he started laughing. "What the hell are you doing? I've never seen anyone do that with their fingers. It looks like your trying to rip them off!"

My face goes red cuz of how embarrassed I am. Val and Earl would always tell me that I have to stop cuz someone would laugh at me for it. Well looks like someone finally did. And sadly, it was Grady.

Earl got protective and snapped, "Shut up, Grady. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just a habit for her."

Grady looks over at me and sees my upset face. He looks down, ashamed. He muttered a 'Sorry, I didn't mean to' but I don't think he thought I heard it. I shrug it off, just like I did with everything in life. I just ignore it. But whatever Grady says, I can't ignore it. No matter what, it always draws my attention to him, if it's good or bad, I still want to hear it from him.

We pull up next to an old abandoned little shack, in the middle of nowhere. Earl snatched up the map to see where we are and I can hear all the different kind of birds. Sometimes I wish I could live somewhere like this, without graboids, of course.

"Man, look at that country, huh?" Grady says, amazed.

"Yea, nothing but rocks and boulders out there." Earl comments. "We'll have to climb one, if we don't wanna get slurped."

"There are mountains all around us. I thought you said they can't get through mountains." Grady yells as he hops out of the truck, me following.

"I said they can't go through rock. These rocks are alluvial."

"Oh, 'alluvial.'" He throws the chains out of the bed of the truck while I just sit in the back, keeping an eye out. "Wait a minute, that's the little dingle berry in the back of your throat, right?"

"You want to hunt graboids, you better know geology. Here, you drive. I'm keeping my eye on this seismo-jigger."

"Good idea." Grady, being a smart ass.

"No offense Earl, but uh, you're as nervous as a Chihuahua."

"I'm not nervous. I'm alert."

"…Whatever."

We start driving around, Grady driving while Earl watches the screen and I keep a look out from behind us, in case of any surprise attacks. Earl opens the little window but Grady didn't know so he starts talking. "So, uh, Earl. What, what's Charlie like? You seem to know her pretty well."

"Well, I hope so. I practically raised her along with her older brother Valentine. She's usually kind of quiet; it's hard for her to open up to new people for her, she's been burned a lot when she was a kid. She's real funny, random and all when you take the time to know her. But once she trusts you, she would almost do anything for that person. If you do her wrong, she'll never forget it. Just a heads up." Earl describes. Personally I think that was a good description.

"Good to know." Grady says, with a smile, nodding his head.

I smile too, knowing that Grady was wondering about me. Maybe this really was a good decision to come down here. I might start a new life with a new person, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.

Grady is getting upset that no graboids are coming after us yet. He makes sure that we keep hitting the bumpy parts of the ground and sticks his head out the window, making some kind of Indian scream.

It feels like I'm about to fall out of the truck when I see something coming up from behind us. I start banging on the window, trying to get their attention. I don't think they heard me but they stopped and looked at the screen.

They both hop out, and I help trying to get the tarp off the explosives. "OK, time for the secret weapon!" Earl yells. Grady grabs something and holds it the wrong way. "Careful of that detonator. Set it like I showed you."

Grady starts to set it, correctly saying, "How dumb do you think I am?"

Earl just looks at him for a moment before he answers. "Catch me later on that one."

I try my hardest not to laugh but I let out a giggle. Grady immediately turns around once he is done setting the bomb, smiling. "Did I just hear you _giggle_?"

My face turns red, knowing that is probably the most girlish things to do around a boy. I quickly start to shake my head, denying it. He has a devilish smile on his face as he starts to nod. "No, I think you did. You can't deny it! Hahahaha!"

Before it can be taken any further, Earl jumps in. "Enough fooling around, you two. Get ready before we lose him."

We get in our positions. Earl driving the little toy truck around, Grady watching it with binoculars, and me watching the seismograph. Grady keeps getting excited, "He's coming in. I think he's following it."

"Course he is."

"I can't see it, Earl. Earl, I can't see it! Left. Left. Left!"

"Ok, ok"

"Hey, guys make sure it stays far away from us, alright?" I make sure.

"Yea, we got it!" I hear both the boys say.

Grady spots it and sees the graboid eat it. He starts freaking out again, jumping around. He's yelling at Earl to hit the button to make it explode. Once he does, I jump in the bed of the truck with the boys, grabbing my umbrella along with Earl, covering ourselves. Grady forgot his and once he realizes it, he jumps to grab his.

The pieces of the graboid came flying at us; Earl and I were under out umbrellas, smirking at Grady as tried to cover himself with his cute little hat he always wears. Once everything in the sky was done falling, we look at Grady and say, "Told ya."

"I forgot."

I start laughing my ass off and he pushes me off the truck, jumping down next to me. I get up and we both start 'fighting' each other, tackling the other on the ground. Earl, of course had to ruin the moment. "Guys, come on. We need to get going. Or do you two want to get eaten up off the ground?"

Before I knew it, the rest of the day was gone and we got ten graboids. We listened to the radio when we were driving and when we were cleaning the truck from all the guts of the graboid. The song that was playing was T-R-O-U-B-L-E by Travis Tritt and it was a really good song.

We were listening to that when we were cleaning the last of it for today and Earl decided to give Grady a hard time. "Hey, don't forget to wash off that antenna."

Grady and I both look at it and see a huge piece of a gut, lying on top on the antenna. It was gross. But of course, Grady still got it. After we were done, we were all pretty hungry so we set up lunch on a high ground rock.

We were listening to the radio once more but we didn't pay attention to where it was. It was talking nothing but Spanish that I didn't understand but all of a sudden, I could barely hear it. We all look where it was and see a hole and a cloud of dust, like it got sucked down.

We both look at Grady, accusingly and Earl asks, "You put the radio on the ground?"

"Sorry, I forgot." Grady says, with a shocked expression on his face, trying to save his sorry ass.

I shake my head. "Oh my god, what am I going to do with you boys?" I exaggerate.

"Well, I don't know. You'll have to figure that one out by yourself, Lee." Grady challenges.

"Lee? Where did you get that one?" I laugh.

"Well, you know. Char-lie. There is Char and Lee so I called you Lee. Is that ok?"

I smile and say, "It's perfect. I never thought of that. I like it. It's different."

We kept driving around the country, trying to find a better rock to fall asleep on. Of course it was freezing at night so I snuggled up to the person closest to me. It turned out to be Grady. He threw his arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

"You ok?" he asks, worried.

"Yea, I'm fine. I'm just really cold. I can move if I'm bothering you." I respond, about to get up.

He quickly starts to object, pulling my closer. "No, no it's fine. I was just wondering if you were scared or anything."

"No, I've dealt with them before but when we went against the graboids, we never had these kinds of weapons."

"You two want to shut your mouths so we can go to sleep."

We all chuckle and start to fall asleep. Right when I'm almost out, I hear a wolf howling in the distance. Grady pulls away and rolls over, leaving me to freeze.

"Is that a coyote?" Grady wonders.

"Yup."

The wolf keeps howling and Grady says, while yawning, "Man, he better keep quiet." The next moment we hear him yelp and the howling stopped.

"Yup."

I tried to go back asleep, but shivering while doing so. Grady noticed this and he gave me half his blankets, pulling me next to him. I smile and grab a hold of his arm as he makes sure he has a strong hold on me, like a graboid is going to come and take me from him.

"Night, Grady."

"Night, Lee. Sleep well."

I can't help but think with a smile on my face, '_Believe me, I will.'_


	10. Help

By the next day, we already went out hunting for the next graboids to kill. We had everything set up, Grady and I waiting and Earl watching through the binoculars. Earl soon spoke up. "He took it."

Grady jumps up to grab it at the same time he does. They both stare at each other for a second before Earl raises his hand in a fist. Grady looks at it and mutters, "Shit."

They both shake their hands three times. Grady has scissors while Earl has rock. Grady thinks he has it this time and smiles but Earl laughs and takes the control panel. "Rock breaks scissors. I win."

"It does?" Grady asks, confused. Even I have to admit, he looks so cute when he looks confused

Earl presses the button and the graboid explodes. He starts laughing as he puts it back. I shake my head and start walking around. I hear them talking but I don't listen. Soon enough, Grady's umbrella flies away, my way. I catch it and we meet each other in the middle. As Grady's walking my way, he's talking loud to Earl. "Like maybe Monster World, or Monster Land, or Worm World."

"How about Loony World it seems to fit, get off the ground."

Grady says to me, "Thanks," as he takes the umbrella then back to Earl, "Vision, Earl. Vision is what separates the average…" his voice fades as he starts to look around, as do Earl and I.

We all hear music but don't see anything around us. As it gets louder Grady turns around with a smile on his face saying, "I know that song."

Earl hears lots of beeping and quickly looks at the screen. He must see something bad because he starts yelling, "Get off the ground, Grady, Charlie. Get off the ground!"

It got louder and louder but then, right next to us, a graboid comes up out of the ground. It knocks me over and Grady starts to run back to the truck until he sees me on the ground. He quickly runs back and picks me up in his arms, not giving me a chance to get up myself, but hey, who's complaining? He runs back to the truck with me and jumps on the roof of the truck.

He starts to freak out, realizing how close he was to being eaten. "Jesus, man those things are HUGE! Did you see that mouth!?"

Earl starts to get some kind of tape ready but stops when we hear the radio again. We look down and see he snagged a hold of the chain attached to my truck.

The truck starts to turn around by itself. Grady gets a little scared and asks, "Can it do that?" Earl jumps in the cab of the truck as fast as he can while Grady and I were in the bed of the truck, watching where we were going.

"It can't be that strong." Grady says. Earl was trying to move the truck forward but the graboid kept pulling us backward. "Son of a bitch! Hit the brakes!"

"I am. I did! It doesn't work!"

I was hanging on to the sides of the truck while Grady was falling all over the place, freaking out. Yes, I was scared but I don't think I showed it much. It seemed like every other second; we were getting pulled even faster.

Grady gets the stupid idea to grab one of the guns, shooting at it. I quickly turn to him before he wastes all the bullets. "Grady, don't! You can't shoot through the ground! Believe me, we've tried it before!"

He realizes it's no use and throws it back in the truck. I turn back to look where we were going, my eyes go wide. Grady and I turn to Earl to yell, "CLIFF!"

I turn back around, not wanting to see the ground coming toward us, so I duck and hide my face so I couldn't see. I feel Grady do the same except he wraps his arms around me, protecting me. We both start screaming but all of a sudden, we jerk and we stop.

We both look up and see where we are. We are both breathing heavy and Grady looks at me and whispers, "He stopped." He turns around and says louder to Earl, "He stopped." We both look back to the chain and realize it's turning the other way. Guess we spoke too soon. "Aw, shit."

We start to go a different way. We try everything. Turning the wheel, hitting the brakes, and going forward. Nothing seems to stop it. We head for a huge rock and it looks like we're going to ram it. Grady hides under some sleeping bags, and I brace myself for the impact. But it doesn't come. The chain brakes off leaving us on top of the rock.

We all get out to look what happened. The three of us are still trying to control our breathing. I get out and basically sprawl out on the rock, feeling safe. "You guys alright?"

I give him thumbs up while Earl ignores him. "Wow, chain broke right off. Jesus, we're lucky. Well truck seems to be alright."

Grady gets a smile on his face. "Earl…That's gonna be the first ride to my theme park."

Earl just stared at him, "Doesn't anything ever get you down?"

Grady looks a bit offended and answers, "Well, I am blessed with a sunny disposition. Most people seem to like it."

I raise my hand and yell over the wind, "I like it!"

I can almost hear the smile in his voice as he yells back, "Thank you, Lee!"

Earl goes back to check the screen and beckons us over. We all stare at it as he comments, "Oh, yea? What does this do for your disposition?" We all see eight big red dots meaning graboids, coming straight for us.

We race back to the buildings where the others are such as Kate, Pedro, and Julio. We try to get back there as fast as possible and Earl says, "I think we're gonna need some help."

"Help?!" Grady yells. "Who'd be crazy enough to want to help us in this mess?"

Earl and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing. '_You'd be surprised.'_

Grady and I were back in our room as Earl went to contact our old friend. We were both lying on our own bed, me staring at Grady wondering if I should ask him the question that has been bothering me for the whole day. He was just playing with his dog tags, so I decided to break the silence. "Grady?"

"Hmm?"

"…How come you protected me earlier today?"

He immediately stop playing with his dog tags and stares up at the ceiling, seeming to be lost for words. "Uh…It looked like you were scared and I didn't want to see you scared. But it doesn't matter now. It's in the past; we're both alive, right?"

At first I was a little hurt that he thought it didn't matter anymore. I got up and walked over to his bed. I sat down next to him, put his head in my lap and started to play with his hair for some unknown reason. I started talking once more. "Well, it matters to me. I like knowing that you want to protect me. It makes me feel good. Makes me feel cared for and safe."

He looks up, looking at me from upside down and asks, "You do? I thought you hated being protected."

"Well only when that person is trying to keep me from doing what I think is best, but if they want to keep me from being scared then yea, I like it." I say with a smile.

He smiles too. He pulls me down beside him and ends up playing with my hair instead. He runs his fingers through it without his leather gloves. He looks cute with his gloves and hat but he looks even better without them. He stops and stares in my eyes as I stare in his.

We both start to lean in with the moonlight shining through our window. Right before we were about to try to kiss once more, there was a knock on the door and it opened without an answer. Earl peeks his head through the frame and stares at us.

I quickly run to my bed and try my best to look innocent. He has that stupid over-protective look on his face when he looks between the two of us. He says to me, "He'll be here sometime tomorrow. Be ready for whatever he brings. And this time, it's not going to be just little canon bombs."

I nod my head as he turns to leave. He walks out, shutting the door behind him. I bet my face was red as a rose. I look over and see Grady with an almost frightened look on his face and a face that could match a tomato.

"Uh, see you tomorrow morning. Night, Grady." I say, quickly and turn over on my side, my back to him.

He does the same thing and says, "Yea, see you in the morning. Night, Lee."

I try to ignore what happened the best I could but I ended up having a dream about it. This boy just has to torture me, doesn't he? I feel this little trip is going to lead to more than I ever expected.


	11. Burt

The next morning we got up and met up with everyone else. Kate was looking at some fossil while everyone else was making lunch. Grady and I were trying to avoid each other the whole time, especially in front of Earl. It seemed like he was making sure we stayed away from each other. Earl had me next to him and Grady on the opposite side of the table.

He caught us looking at each other so Earl said, firmly, "Hey! You keeping an eye out on that monitor?"

"Uh, yea. I'm watching it. They're just staying up North." He responded, innocently.

It was silent as were doing our own things until Kate broke it. "Oh my god!"

We all snap our heads up at the same time, yelling "What?"

She looked at us, apologetically and said, "Sorry. Come here. Come here, look at this."

We all went towards her and saw what the fossil was. She says she was studying that same fossil for over a month and she just realized what it was. It was one of the spikes on a graboid. That means they were here over millions of years ago.

Next thing we hear is a lot of beeping, and Pedro yelling something in Spanish. I can't understand that language, it's too confusing. We all look at the screen and find a huge red dot coming for us.

Earl and I grab a gun and get ready to shoot. Before I can get a good shot, Earl says, "That ain't no graboid. It's something more dangerous."

We all walk out and see the biggest truck I've ever seen in my life. We walk to the other side of the truck and see the door open. Our old friend Burt Gummer hops out and shakes hands with Earl.

"Monster HQ, I presume." Was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

"Hey, Burt. Good to see ya." Earl greets.

"Good to see you too." Burt turns to me and his eyes go wide. "Holy shit! Last time I saw you, you were only fourteen. Where did that little girl go?"

I smile and give him a hug, which he returns. "Hey, Burt. It's good to see you."

"Good to see you too, kiddo."

Earl was introducing everybody and once he got to Grady, he got interrupted. "Grady, Grady Hoover. Yea, I read all about you, Mr., Mr. Gummer. Real honor." I shook my head at his stuttering. "Man do you think you got a big enough truck, here?"

Burt looks at Earl and asks, "He the new guy?"

Earl just looks at him with a _'Don't even get me started'_ look. I follow Grady to the back of the truck and see him hop up. "Hey, what the hell do you have in this thing, anyway?"

Burt quickly pushes him off saying, "Hey, hey. Don't touch, don't touch." He opened it up and let us see what was in there. "Mexican army gave me this truck. And a few little items on my wish list."

All I could see was a bunch of different kinds of explosives. I nod my head in approval but Kate starts laughing. We look at her. She stops laughing and looks back at us. "It's a little much, don't you think?" we continue to stare at her. She realizes we're serious. "Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm right." Then she walks away.

Burt turns back to us with a smile on his face, pointing to the truck. "Makes my old stuff look like cherry bombs." He continued talking but I didn't understand it. He went back to his usual self, doing nothing but talking about bombs.

I walked away soon and got some clothes ready for our next trip soon. I hear the door open but I keep my back to it. I hear one of the beds springs squeak and I have an idea of who it is. My guess was right when I heard them talking.

"Did I say something wrong to make you mad at me?" Grady asks, sad.

I turn around to meet his eyes and I sit on my bed. "No, you didn't do anything. I just didn't really know what to do after last night. It's confusing. I usually ignore something that I don't understand."

He looks even more confused. "What don't you understand? Some moments get ruined like that and all."

"No, I don't understand how I feel about you, yet. Give me a little more time and then I'll figure it out."

"What if you figure it out after this is all over and we already went our separate ways? What will you do then?"

"Well, if that happens, I might just have to go and find you, now won't I?" I wink at him with a smile.

"Yea and I'll be waiting for you. Guess we both have to be patient, huh?" he says with a smile.

"It's getting late. We better head off to bed now if we want to get up early to hunt graboids." I instruct.

He agreed and soon, we were both asleep. Everyone woke up around the same time and we went to our trucks. We made sure everything was packed and ready to go. About a few hours later we met up with Burt where we usually stop to know which way we're going. Earl and Burt agreed that Burt would go east and we would go west.

Right before we were going to leave, Burt called out to Earl, who was eating potato chips, "You know, those are terrible for you. You need complex carbohydrates. Lower those L.D.L.s."

Earl just looked annoyed and said, "I already gave up smoking, Burt. What more do you want?"

"Have an M.R.E." was all he said.

"A what?"

Burt went back in his truck and came back out seconds later with a little package. "Meals Ready to Eat. Freeze-dried, foil sealed. Its got be foil. Plastic is not an oxygen barrier. "

I just shook my head, not understanding a word. Burt went back into his truck and had a whole handful of those little packages. He started handing them to Grady who was the closest. "Here, take these. I buy them all the time. Saves a trip to the super market."

"Oh, no, Burt. We don't wanna use up all your food." Grady said politely. I knew what he was trying to say though. He just used the nice way of saying, _'Please, for the love of God, get that shit away from me.'_

Apparently Burt didn't get it and said, nonchalantly, "No problem. Brought 120 pounds of it. Good luck compadres." With that he left, heading for the east while we went, heading for the west.

Earl was driving, Grady was in the middle, and I was on the outside passenger seat, breathing in the fresh air. Seconds later I hear Earl say, "Aw, man. This stuff tastes like toilet paper."

I didn't even have to look at Grady to see the smile on his face. I could hear him smiling when he said, "Earl…That is the toilet paper."

A few hours later, we were cleaning the truck, just like we always do after we kill a graboid. We all looked in the east direction, where Burt was. Let me tell you that was one hell of a bomb if we heard it clear over here. We continued cleaning until we heard the radio go off and Burt's voice on the other end. "Yo, Grady, Charlie, and Earl! I got one, over."

Earl and I went to the radio while Grady was removing another piece of gut off the hood. That almost seemed to be his job. Earl and I wiping down the truck while Grady gets rid of the guts all over the place.

"Yea, we know, Burt. We heard it clear over here." Earl said, annoyed.

"Damnedest thing too. It had a big ole chain hanging out of its mouth."

That got Grady's attention as his head snapped up. "Damn it!" That was how I felt too. Before I could grab the mic., Grady got it first, jumping in the truck, lying down on the seats. "Burt, you skunk, that one was ours!"

"Oh, yea, son? Well, I didn't see your name on it."

I snatched the mic. back up and snapped, "Burt, damn it! Yes it did! That was the one that took my radio because of this shit head!" I hit Grady on the back of the head as he let out a yell in the background.

Burt started chuckling and responded, "Oh, really? Well you wanna know what, Charlie? TOUGH LUCK! Over and out."

I threw the mic. back, pissed off. Grady felt the same too because he said, "Why did we invite him anyways? And why the hell would you slap me over the head?" he looked at me with wide eyes.

I shrugged me shoulders as I stated, calmly, "Because…you're the reason I don't have a radio to listen to music to. And if you know me well enough, you know I need music!"

Earl just had this big smile on his face, laughing at the two of us. It looked like he was about to say something else but he was interrupted with the screen beeping. We all gathered around it and watched what was going on.

We saw a big red dot, near us. "We got one!" Grady said, excited. We got a closer look at it and realized something. "Wait a minute. It's moving away from us." He started looking around until his attention back to us. "Well, it must be something else."

Earl looked at him, like he was stupid. "Like what? A giant prairie dog?"

"Well, shit. I don't know, Earl. It's moving away from us." Grady defended. We all started looking around us until Grady spoke up again. "Should we follow it?"

I took the silence as a yes. I hopped out of the cab and got in the bed of the truck. "I'm gonna stay back here and get the bombs ready, just in case. That alright?" I asked, knowing how protective Earl is.

He looked hesitant at first but gave in. "Fine, just make sure you don't hurt yourself."

I roll my eyes at him. I couldn't help but think,'_Hurt myself, my ass.' _The boys were in the truck while I was on the outside. I kept looking ahead after I got everything ready. I heard the boys talking but I only heard their voices I didn't hear the exact words but I knew they were talking about the graboid. Earl was freaking out and I was, on the inside. On the outside, I remained calm as if nothing was going on.

We were moving slow but fast at the same time. As we turned a corner, we saw the graboid, right in front of us, above the ground. I yelled, as did Grady, and I heard Earl yell, "Holy mother!"

Earl hit the reverse, but before anyone could stop him we went down a steep hill. Since I wasn't in the cab or anything I went flying down. I felt my body collide with the trailer of my truck. I felt like I blacked out for a minute. I couldn't move, talk, or anything. All I could do was listen and think.

I heard Earl freaking out over the graboid. "Shit! Shit, how could they do that?! Got to get to Burt's gun!"

I hear a bunch of banging on the hood of my truck. I wanted to tell whoever it was to knock it off but I couldn't. It seemed like my body wouldn't let me and it shut down. I felt someone next to me, grabbing a gun, who I assumed was Earl.

"Hey, Charlie. Come on, let's go." When he didn't see me move, he started to shake my shoulders. "Charlie? Charlie, come on! Damn it, Charlotte! Wake up!"

I could hear the panic in his voice. I heard Grady coming down the truck, by my side. "What happened? Is she alright?!" Grady asked, scared.

"I don't know. She won't wake up." He continued to shake me, begging me to wake up. I wish I could but something was holding me back. He started whispering, "Charlie, come on. Wake up, you got to. We need you right now, Charlie."

"Earl! I found out what's wrong!" Grady yelled, even though we're both right next to him. "Quick, get a rag or something. She's bleeding on the back of her head."

I felt someone pick my head up and set it in their lap. The person started stroking my hair, whispering, "Don't worry. We're gonna fix you right up. You'll be good as new in no time." by how gentle and soft his voice was, I could tell it was Grady.

"Here, this was all I could find." I hear Earl come back.

I felt Grady pick my head up once more and put some kind of clothe to the back of it. "I think it'll be good enough."

I was starting to fall asleep. I hear both their heavy breathing. I heard someone cock their gun and started walking off. I knew it was Earl when he started talking. "I'll be right back. I got to see what the hell happened with that graboid."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up, give me a minute." I hear Grady say, quickly. The last thing I though before I fell asleep was how good it felt to be in Grady's arms and him comforting me.


	12. Questions, Stories, and Mysteries

I woke up with a headache. I looked up at the sky and saw it was dark. I let out a groan and roll over. I hit another body, close to mine. I feel that person move and throw their arm over my shoulders. I open my eyes again and see who the person was. He was looking down at me, with a smile on his face.

I hide my face in his jacket and let out another groan. Earl just laughs, pulling my closer, giving me a kiss on the head. "How are ya feeling, kiddo?" he asks, concerned.

"Tired. Sore. And tired."

He just lets out another laugh. I feel someone else next to me. I look and see I'm right in between Grady and Earl. I sit up and rub my eyes. "What'd I miss?" I question.

"Well first of all, we caught ourselves a live one. Second of all, you hit your head pretty hard. You sure you're ok?" Grady says, first excited then turned concerned.

I smile the best I can which wasn't very good. I nod my head slowly. "Yea, don't worry. I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache."

We all lean back and relax a bit. Grady was counting his fingers or something while Earl and I were just resting. Our heads snapped right up, hearing a huge bomb go off in the distance. I jump the biggest and grab a hold of Earl's arm.

"Ssshhhesus." Grady says. He looks at us then back to the distance. "Damn it, he got himself another one." He folds his arms like a child, pouting.

"Man never sleeps." Earl speaks up. We all try to relax once more until we hear two more bombs go off. We look at each other, wide eyed. We hear Burt on the radio once more that day.

"Guys, Burt here. Doing a little night fishing. Got _three_ of them on the cluster charge. I'd say we're about even now. Over."

"Come on, Burt! This isn't a competition." Earl snaps.

"Who's competing? I'm just saying the score's tied, that's all. Over."

Grady grabs the mic and says, "Well _son_. No it isn't because we just got ourselves a live one. How bout that?"

"A LIVE one?! How in the—"

"Well that's just a little trade secret. Happy huntin Burt." Earl and I were trying our best to contain our laughter.

"Yea, I bet that burned his skinny ass." Earl laughed. We were having a good time until we heard a ghostly noise. I can't describe the noise but it sounded like something was going to be killed.

We all sat up and I hugged myself tighter to Earl's arm. This is probably the first time in a long time I was actually scared and showed it. Earl seemed shocked at first but then tried to calm me down, just like he did when I was a kid. He put his arm around me and started to stroke my hair. I felt like I was fourteen again when the graboids first came.

The three of us turn around to look in the direction of the graboid. "God almighty."

Grady turned to us but looking at Earl and said, "Something's wrong with our worm, guys."

Earl stared back at him and snapped at him, "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

The noise wouldn't stop. I started to shake and Earl was trying to comfort me once more. Grady turned to the graboid and back to us. "Maybe there's something trying to eat it, out there. Coyotes or something."

I looked at him and said, "Well then they'll have plenty to eat, now won't they."

"Come on, guys. We have _got_ to protect our investment here. We can't just sit here." Grady snapped. The noise got worse and Grady and I turned to it. "Sshhesus, listen to it. Poor thing. I mean, don't you feel a little sorry for him?"

"…No."

Grady just look at him and turns around to get up. "That's cold, Earl." He grabs the lamp behind us and walks away.

I get up to follow him and Earl takes a bit longer getting up. I see Grady stop short and stare wide eyed. I follow his sight and see what happened. Earl does the same. We turn on the flashlights so we could see well. We inch closer and closer.

Earl makes me get behind him, next to Grady and then Grady pulls me behind him so then I'm in the back behind everybody. Which isn't a lot of people considering it's just the three of us.

I got a little freaked out so I grabbed a hold of Grady's shoulder which he grabbed a hold of my hand instead. Grady speaks first. "Something _ate _it."

"In two minutes?" Earl questioned.

"Well something happened to it because this is nothing inside." Grady was right. It was completely empty.

"Something came out of it." Earl said after a moment of silence.

"What do you mean, something came out of it?"

"Yea it did that thing when things do when they change, ya know. It turns into something else, like a caterpillar does. But I bet that whatever came out of it wasn't no sweet little butterfly."

We all turn around, cautiously making our way back to the truck. Earl spoke once more. "Damn worms never cut you any slack."

Earl was talking on the radio to Kate while Grady was loading up the guns and I was playing with a necklace. I didn't notice Grady watching me until he spoke. "Where'd you get that?" he gestured to my necklace.

I quickly tucked it back in my shirt, not wanting to talk about it. My face goes red as he comes closer and throws an arm around my shoulders. "Come on. I won't tell anybody. You can tell me anything."

I sigh and turn to him and bring out my necklace once more. "Just so you know you are the first person I've ever told this to." He nods his head in an understanding way. "My mother died when I was a little girl. I was probably around three or four. She got sick. We tried our best to help her but we never had much money. Before she died she gave me this necklace to remember her by. Said that she'll always be in my heart and watching over me, guiding me."

I had tears in my eyes by then but I tried to hold them back. Grady rubbed me shoulder and whispered, "It's ok. Take your time."

I nod my head and continue. "My father never wanted a daughter. He acted like he never had one. Like he only had one child and that was his son, my older brother Val. When my mother died, my father left us. Earl was always a good friend of the family. Val was around a teenager and Earl was around 20 or 30 but he took us in. He said it was what my mother would have wanted. Earl and my mom were close as siblings."

"That's why Earl is so protective of you?"

I nod my head again. "Earl knew that I never had a father so he took that role. Val was still like a brother but more of a friend than a brother. As I got older, almost every day, Earl would tell me I look like my mom. He would always say that she looked like an angel at times. He said that she passed that on to me."

I laugh a little but Grady keeps a straight face. He looks me in the eyes and whisper, "I believe it. The first time I ever saw you, I thought you looked like an angel."

I got lost is his eyes as he did with mine. Both of us just staring at each other. We both start to lean in. Right before we were going to kiss, I kissed him. On the cheek. Grady has a shocked look on his face while I have a smile on mine. "Thank you."

I get up and sit next to Earl. He finishes talking to Kate and was waiting for a response. All of a sudden, the radio wasn't working. Off in the distance, we heard that same ghostly kind of noise from a graboid.

We all stand up and look in the direction. Grady speaks first, "Oh, man. You know what that is, don't you?"

"Yeah. Another one's doing it."

Grady starts to breathe heavy, panicking. He looks in the opposite direction. He seems relieved. "There. There's Pedro."

And he was right. There was a tow truck coming our way. "About damn time."

I watch the truck and see it stop. "He stopped."

"He stopped?" the boys ask.

"Maybe he's taking a leak?"

"Grady!" I complain.

"What, it's what guys do." He shrugs his shoulders, looking innocent.

It was taking so long we all just sat on the hood of my truck. "That's a looong leak." Earl comments. He stands up and starts yelling Pedro's name.

He sits back down. We continue to stare at the truck for a bit. Its silence for a few minutes until Grady breaks it. "Well… Maybe we should go over and see what's wrong."

We both look at him like he's crazy. Earl states, slowly, "Go? You mean walk a mile across open country? I'm not going 6 feet away from that seismo."

Grady looks down and watches the screen. "Come on. There's no graboids anywhere near us right now. Now I say we go while the goings good."

We all stare at one another, silently. We finally agreed to go. I went to get all the guns, explosives, and lights. But I didn't. Grady took most of the stuff from me, being a gentleman by not making me carry everything. I had a little less than half while Grady had the majority of it. Earl had the seismograph. That's all he had.

"You know…you could carry some of this stuff." Grady complained to Earl.

"I got what I want."

"I told you, I can help carry some of it. It won't be that big of a deal, you know." I say.

"No, no. I'm ok. I got it, don't you worry." Grady reassured me. I just rolled my eyes at his stubbornness.

As we walked closer to the truck, it looked like it was ripped to shreds. We just kept walking closer and closer. Grady spoke before the rest of us could. "Well, I can't say this looks good." We stopped and stood silently. Grady called out into the dark night, "Pedro?"

We stared at the truck with a bunch of smoke and steam coming off it. Earl had to state the obvious. "Looks like somebody took a can opener to the thing."

We kept walking towards it, looking for Pedro. Earl kept looking at the front; Grady went down one side of the truck, while I went on the opposite side. We continued walking down father. Grady shined the flashlight towards the back and we all saw a pair of hands gripping the edges of the trailer. Grady announced that we found him but once we moved toward the back, completely, that was all we saw. A pair of hands. The body gone. It looked like body was ripped off the arms.

"Oh, God. Oh, God." Grady stuttered with wide eyes.

I was shocked. I couldn't move my feet. I was actually scared shitless. My eyes and mouth were wide open. Earl started to freak out as well once he saw it. "It's a whole new ball game. It's a while new god damn ball game." He saw me not moving from my spot and motioned me over to them. "Charlie, come on. Let's go!"

I felt like I could barely hear him, like I was far away. I couldn't stop staring at the pair of hands. I couldn't move so Earl hopped over the trailer and actually picked me up in his arms. He jumped back over to where Grady and him were originally were.

"You know what to do, right? …Right?" Grady panicked.

Earl turned to him with me still in his arms, "I don't know _shit_!" They both started looking all around while I stayed frozen. They saw a radio tower and agreed to go to that for help.


	13. Something New

Once I calmed down a little, Earl let me walk but he made sure I was close to him and Grady to make sure nothing happened to me. When we arrived at the radio tower, we didn't see anything except a bunch of tore up wires, broken boxes, everything ruined and destroyed.

Grady spoke with a little bit of edge to his voice. "Oh no, no, no. Tel-tell me that's the radio stuff."

"I can't believe this."

"Oh god. Not this. Not again. Not again."

Grady started getting pissed off. "Oh, man. Don't we ever get a god damn break?!"

"We get out of here alive; I'll count that as a break."

"I mean there wasn't even any people here to eat. They're doing this on purpose, man. They're cuttin' us off on purpose." Grady starts kicking all the equipment around.

Earl gets him to stop, telling him to be quiet. He starts to look around and spots a car in a garage. We start running after it. Earl informs us, "It's not gonna have a key."

"Then we'll hot wire the damn thing." Grady gets the idea.

"I like that plan. Let's do it."

Grady breaks open the window by smashing it with the end of the gun. Earl just opens it without having to do anything. Grady gets starts to get to work and hot wire it but was stopped by a sound. We all stop and stare at the other direction, hearing a weird noise of something banging on metal. Earl instructs us to get behind the car and we do so. Every time the sound gets louder, we raise our guns even higher.

When the thing that made the noise came out, we put our guns down and stare at it, bewildered. "What the hell is that?" Grady questions.

We stare at it some more. It almost looks like it had the body of a toad or a frog but had the same kind of head as a graboid. It had legs and a tail, pretty stupid looking if you ask me.

It was so small; Grady had to ask, "Is that it?"

"Sure ain't no damn ostrich." Earl responded. Guess I missed something cuz I didn't understand that.

"How does a thirty foot worm turn into that little thing?" Grady keeps asking, his voice getting louder.

"Grady shut up!"

"SShh, it might hear us." Earl warns us.

It turns our way and something comes up from its head. I couldn't describe it even if I wanted to. It started to make a screaming noise and started running toward us. We all started to shoot at it and went to reload. Grady stopped us, saying we got it.

We walked over to it and examined it. Earl thought it looked like an ugly little toad. I got a bad feeling all of a sudden so I warned the guys. "Guys, I think we should get back into the car and go. Something ain't right and it's not just that little toad thing we just killed."

"Ah, calm down, Lee. We killed it; it can't do no harm to us now."

I ignored him and ran into the backseat of the car. I saw them keep talking but stopped when they saw shadows coming that looked like more of them. They quickly ran into the car and drove away. I was a little pissed that they didn't listen to me.

"What the hell did I tell you guys? Did you even think about listening to me?"

"Oh, shut up. We had to see what it looked like." Grady snapped.

I felt hurt in the tone that he spoke to me but I ignored it the best I could, like I always do. I just stayed silent for the rest of the way back. I fell asleep somewhere around the early morning.

I woke up from the whole car shaking and gunshots. I quickly woke up and looked around. I saw that we got back to the institute back alright but I didn't see anybody outside or in the car. What I did see was one of those toads on the hood of the car, ripping up the engine and trying to get inside the car, breaking the windshield.

I let out a blood curdling scream that even hurt my ears. I heard some people yell my name and hear more gunshots. I would've looked who it was but I was in shock after that thing was so close to me. Somebody opened the car door and scooped me up in their arms. By how gentle they held me, I knew it was Grady.

"Let's get our butts inside, now." Earl instructed.

We got inside and locked the doors and closed all the windows. Kate was making sure that I was alright. It hit me that even after the short time that I've known her; she has been treating me like a daughter. I couldn't stop thinking about how she and Earl would look so good together. It seems like the scientific girls got the stupid cowboys. Like Val and Rhonda and maybe soon Earl and Kate.

Once I convinced her I was ok, I got myself a gun and loaded it along with Grady and Earl. Grady was the one that was freaking out the most. About the toads _and _me. Kate went to calm him down and asked him, "How many do you think there are?"

"I don't know." He confessed. "There was three things in the one we saw split open, huh guys?" he asked to make sure he was right and we both nodded. "Can't be more than three of those things in each graboid."

"Shit. How many graboids did we not kill?"

"All but eight graboids, I was watching. That would mean 24 of those things left. How many have you killed?" Kate answers/asked.

"Uh, let's see. We killed one at the radio tower, and one out there, and uh, one on top of the car." Earl explained.

"Oh, don't even remind me." I complain.

"That's it?" Kate questions.

Earl looks a bit offended. "Well, I'm _sorry_."

Before we could continue our conversation, the whole place started to shake. I got my gun ready as did Grady and Earl. Earl looked out the window and said it was Burt. We all walked outside, relieved. Grady had this big smile on his face. "Ha, yes, they didn't get 'em."

As he came closer to us, we got a better look. It all this blood and skin and pieces of the toad bodies all over his truck. His truck was all ripped up and had lots of broken windows. We continue to stare as Earl corrects, "I think they did get 'em."

As he slides to a halt, we walk over to the truck. It looks like he's just catching his breath for a minute. We started asking him if he was ok but he didn't give us an answer. Instead he looked over at us and said, with venom in his voice, "I feel I was denied. Critical. Need to know. Information."

"Well… we're sorry, Burt." Grady seemed to be at loss for words. "I mean, they just changed all of a sudden, man."

"We woulda warned ya, but they, uh knocked out the radio tower." Earl cleared up.

"Come on, Burt. What happened?" Kate asked, getting impatient.

Burt looked so annoyed with us right now; it looked like he would shoot us with one of those elephant guns. "Well…when the radios went out, I decided to return to the refinery. But en route, I find I'm in _AN AMBUSH SITUATION!_ Must have been a couple dozen of these things. I dropped the first wave with semi auto fire, but they just kept coming. Sheer luck most of them were in front of the truck, so I just popped it into six wheel and ran 'em down. The ones that got on board, I handed with a combination with small arms fire and hand-to-hand techniques."

He quickly pulled out two guns and said slowly, "I am. Completely. Out. Of ammo." He falls back against his truck and says to himself, "That's never happened to me before."

"Well shit, who cares, Burt?" Grady tried to lighten the mood. "Sounds like you killed them all, huh?"

"I hope not." Kate acknowledges. We turn to her as she explains, "These creatures are very important. You know, I mean… scientifically."

"That fact was not lost on me. When it was all over, I saw one of the little S.O.B.'s was just stunned." He goes to the back of the truck and flips the cover to reveal one of the little toads tied up.

Burt backs the truck up into the garage. We follow him and Kate goes to close the doors. We were about to pick it up when it snarled and flinched. We all jump away from it until Burt tells us that he is perfectly tied up so he can't move at all.

We approach it more carefully and drag it into the other room. After at least an hour of trying, we got the toad thing into a cage by itself while the rest of us were behind the desk.

Burt held up a broom and started making it move around. When we didn't get a reaction, he started banging the broom on the side of the desk. After we still got no reaction, he put the broom down and held up his hand. That was when we got something. The toad thing started shrieking like nobody's business.

We came up, slowly and walked toward the shrieker. "I knew it." Burt exclaimed. "Infrared. It doesn't hear us, it doesn't actually see us. It senses the heat of our bodies." The thing on top of the head came up and it moved its head. "See that? The thing that rises up must be the heat sensor." It started screaming again when Burt got real close to it. "You feel that? The heat that comes from it when it screams?"

When the screaming stopped, Kate spoke up. "That's it. I bet that's the way they communicate. The sound doesn't matter. I mean they make noise but they signal each other with their body heat."

"It only sees heat?" Earl asked.

"Yea it's not so weird. A rattlesnake strikes at body heat." Kate explained.

A light bulb went off in Earl's head. "That's why they tore up those cars…because the engines were hot. They thought it was food."

"Same thing with the radio tower. That electric gear gives off all kinds of heat."

"So basically, they bite anything that's warm."

"You mean, they've been acting so smart 'cause they're so stupid?" Grady asks.

"That pisses me off."

We keep watching the shrieker and see it keeps dragging its tongue all over the floor. Grady gets an idea and throws some of Burt's package food in its cage. The tongue hits the piece of food and eats it right up. Grady looks over at the others accusingly. "Now that's not warm. How does he know to eat that?"

Instead of expecting Burt to answer, it was Earl. "Well eh… he tastes it with his tongue. See how he's dragging his tongue all over? Touches anything he likes… he eats it."

"How much can he eat? Those M.R.E.'s aren't cheap, you know." Burt questions.

After a minute of watching it, it starts to sound like it's gonna throw up. It kept making this gasping noise too. Burt turns to Grady and accuses, "You were feeding it too much, you made it sick."

"Oh please. We all know that's not true." I try to defend him.

"Give me a break. Probably your nasty food made it sick."

The shrieker made a roaring noise and made something come out of its mouth. It was shaking the whole cage and everybody took a few steps back, Grady pushing me behind him a bit.

"Oh, good, God!" Earl practically shouted.

It turned out that the little ball thing that came out of the shrieker's mouth was a baby shrieker. We all stare at it for a minute or two, until Kate breathes out, "Hermaphrodites." She quickly turns to the three of us and explains, "They reproduce without having sex."


	14. One Was Enough

"I claim the little one." Was the first thing that came out of Grady's mouth.

"Hey, wait a minute. It was my food." Burt argues.

Kate and Earl kept talking but I paid no attention to them. Instead I talked to Grady. I kept trying to convince him that he didn't want the little one. "Are you sure you want it? I mean, I think one is enough of these things. We don't need another."

Grady saw my point and when Kate asked us if we got it, Grady answered, "Oh, we get. We just don't want it. I think the little one's getting bigger already."

I still wasn't paying much attention until something broke through one of the windows. We all yelled, freaked out, looked and saw it was another shrieker. Earl quickly stabbed it in the head with what looked like a hammer. Grady kept pushing me towards the door so I couldn't see what was happening but I heard Earl yell, "They got into your damn super food, Burt!"

We all ran outside. And Kate kept saying to run around the corner but when we did, all we saw was a group of shriekers. We all turn around again and start running, following Grady. Kate kept screaming how it was a bad idea and when we got inside, I saw what she meant. The whole building was gone except one wall and one door.

"Shit." Grady breathes and yells at the same time.

We all stop to catch our breath and press ourselves against the wall. Burt says that the stopped looking for us. Kate kept trying to be calm but she snapped, "We're like sitting ducks, here!"

We turned to glare at Grady as he tried to defend himself. "Well, I'm sorry it looked like a god damn building to me!"

"Come on, these little snappers are blind and deaf. We've gotta be able to beat them." Earl shouted.

Earl got the idea of walking in the open but with doors in front of us. Since there was three doors and five of us we knew that someone was gonna have to travel alone. I volunteered but Grady wouldn't have it. Earl went first and soon summoned us to follow him. Kate and Burt went after him and then Grady and I were bringing up the back.

"I don't know how you come up with this shit." Grady acknowledged.

"I think on my feet." Earl responded.

We agreed to go to the only car that was felt and that was Julio's, who I just realized was dead. As we were making our way to the car, I realized how close and Grady were. I blushed and when I felt his breath on the back of my neck, it sent shivers down my spine.

"You ok?" Grady asked, concerned.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just got a little cold…"

We follow the others until we know we're safe. Once we were behind another wall, we put down the doors and start running again, Kate leading the way. She suddenly stops and hides behind a few boxes. I see why she does. Right in our way, there is a shrieker.

"Did they see you?"

"I don't know."

"Well if it had, then I think we'd be hearing about it by now."

Burt was getting his weapon ready and breathed out, "How far is it?"

"Uh, about a hundred yards."

"That's a heck of a shot."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You only got one shot?" Grady panics. "Then you gotta hit it, man. Before it sends out one of those, uh… heat signals to the others."

"I know." Burt whispers. He gets the gun ready and sets it up. Before he shoots, he tells us, "Cover your ears." The moment he shoots, one of the windows break and the shrieker explodes. He looks pretty pleases as he gets up. "Do what I can, with what I got."

The closer we get to the car, the more holes we see in walls, buckets, can, and even the truck once we got to it. We popped the hood and checked to see the damage. Grady, Earl, and I quickly looked under the truck and saw it leaking oil.

"We're dead." Grady says, simply.

We all glare at Burt as he tried his best to act innocent. "What? I didn't know. How could I have known? We were supposed to be against graboids! I wanted maximum penetration."

"Well, you've got it." Earl said, gesturing to the truck.

We all start running to a building but we see a ton of shriekers. They start screaming and charging toward us. Kate and Earl run inside a building where it's safe. Grady run to a building and climbs the ladder so he was on the roof. Burt runs to a little bobcat and hops in the bucket and yells, "Damn!"

I didn't know where else to hide so I ran under a car. It was already torn up but it was safe. I could only just crawl under it and the shriekers couldn't get me. I hear Grady yelling for Burt and me.

"Burt, it's working, they can't find you. Don't move" Grady stated the obvious.

"Good. Good idea." I could practically hear Burt roll his eyes.

"Lee? Lee?! Where are ya?"

"Here!" I yell as loud as I could and try to move my gun around in the open so he has an idea of where I am.

"Why the hell are you there? Do you wanna die?!" Grady screams, worry dripping in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really get a chance to stop and think about where I wanted to be safe so then we could play a game of hide and go seek with the GOD DAMN TOADS that want to EAT US!"

"Well, you could've followed me up here! You would've been safer!" Grady snaps. Before I could reply I hear his voice again but it's not toward me. "Yes, Earl you're a genius, haaaaa." He starts laughing, silently.

I see the shriekers are distracted and when they're not paying any attention, I load my gun and starts shooting as many as I can. Grady makes sure that Kate and Earl get up the ladder safely.

I hear the three of them talking and hear Earl ask where Burt and I were. I'm guessing Grady tells them where we both are 'cause Earl starts yelling at me. "Charlie, what the hell were you thinking?! Pulling a stupid stunt like that, that'll get you killed!"

"Enough. Grady already yelled at me for it and if either of you two want a bullet up your ass then I suggest both of you knock it off and let me figure something out!"

I hear the shriekers start screaming again and then Burt yells out, "Oh, I'm just dandy. So what do we do now?"

Right when I think the coast is clear when everyone is distracted, people and shriekers I take my chance. I silently crawl out from under the car and make a run for it, toward the towers where Earl, Kate, and Grady are.

I hear all three of them yelling at me to hurry. When I was close to the ladder and I was about to climb, my foot got caught. I look down and see one of the tongue things grabbed a hold of my foot. It drags me to the ground and it immediately takes me back to when the graboid got my foot and Melvin had to come save me. It was almost like a small flashback and when it was done, I started screaming and tearing up.

I knew that I couldn't cry like I did back then, so I grabbed my gun and shot the head off the shrieker. I climb the ladder as fast as I could and when Grady went to comfort me, I ignored him.

Instead I ran into Earl's arms, sobbing. He automatically hugs me back and strokes my hair, shushing me. The only reason why I went to Earl was because he was there when we first encountered the graboids and he knew everything I went through. This was the first time I cried in six years and that made me cry a little more and Earl knew this.

He motions Kate and Grady to leave us alone so we could talk. Once he got me to calm down enough, he asked me, "Are you ok?"

I thought if I talked, then that would make me cry again so I just nodded my head. He kept asking me questions "Are you hurt? Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do to help?" At all three questions, I shake my head no. "What do you want?"

I didn't know how to respond so I whispered, "I just want a hug."

He looks at me sadly and he hugs me again, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, stroking my hair, rocking me back and forth. Like when Val did when he saved me from falling down the cliff. After a minute or two I pull away.

He still had his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye. I wanted him to make sure he knew this. "You know how I almost froze up and didn't do anything, but I did." he nods his head yes and I continue. "What made me get back up was thinking of my promise to Val. He said to me, '_Promise me, you will stay safe and be careful.' _I promised and you know I don't break my promises."

He smiles weakly at me and asks, "What that the only thing on your mind?" He was hinting at _somebody_.

I smile and real smile and shake my head a little. He chuckles and helps me up. He takes me over to the rest over by Kate and Grady, on the side where Burt is hiding. Before we approach them I ask, "You wanna know what I think? I think one toad thing was enough."

Grady seems to starts right where they left off. "Hey, Burt. Are you sure you don't have any more bullets? Did you check all your pockets?"

"You know, as I lie here, I can't help but comment. The reason why I'm out of nine millimeter rounds is because I was not properly briefed." Grady, Earl, and I start to roll our eyes. "And the reason for that is, this mission was not properly researched. If certain people have bothered to gather intelligence on the creatures before BUMBLING INTO the situation."

"KNOCK IT OFF, BURT!"

"We wouldn't be down here if—"

"Nobody made you come."

"When we should be packing full-auto, preferably belt-fed!" Burt continued as is he wasn't even cut off in the first place. A toad was right next to him and starts making some noise and Burt already had it. "Shut up!"

"They're Precambrian life forms, Burt. How is anybody supposed to research Precambrian life forms?" Grady challenges.

"What difference does it make now?!" Earl screams. "We're stuck on a god damn roof with a bunch of—bunch of whatsits trying to eat us. I mean I've done this before, Charlie has too. And we did not like it!"

"Oh, ok, so now it's all my fault. So things didn't go according exactly the way we planned it."

"If I had right tools, I'd finish the job!" Burt had one last say.

I had enough of the yelling so I put my gun in the air and shot it. Everyone flinched except me. I throw the gun down and yell at the three boys. "Knock it off! All of you. This isn't going to help anyone. We've got to stay calm and try to figure out a plan. We've gotten out of something like this last time, I think we can do it again, right Earl?"

He grunts but nods his head. Kate helps me out too. "Why don't we all relax? Nobody's heard from us since last night. Which means they're gonna be up here, looking for us? Right? So all we have to do is sit and wait. Ok?" Grady and Earl stay silent, meaning '_fine'_ in boy language. "Burt?" To make sure he's listening, he just folds his arms like a pouting kid.


	15. Done This Before but Not Like This

We all went to doing our own thing. We've been up here for about five hours and about three hours ago, I found out I lost my necklace. It took an hour to calm me down but I stopped crying. Grady was trying to cheer me up by just plain talking to me.

"Ok, so I know you said you don't have a girlfriend, but do you have your eyes on anybody? Everybody has to have a crush." I say with a smirk.

He gets this big smile I love so much and responds. "Yea actually. There is this one girl. I met her a while ago. I don't know how she feels about me but I, uh I know I defiantly like this girl a lot."

"Oh, really? What's she like? How'd you meet her?"

He chuckles and looks at me. "She is really funny. At first she was kind of shy but once I talked to her a bit more, she was loud. And I mean the good loud. Outgoing. I like that. She is very trusting, beautiful. Man, when I first saw her, she looked like a goddess. I had to help her load a few stuff that she dropped. After that, she invited me for a drink and we sat down and just talked."

"She sounds familiar. What's her name, I might know her."

He looks deep in my eyes and responds, "Charlotte. She likes to go by Charlie but I call her Lee. It's different but so is she. It fits."

I smile gently and when I was about to say something, Grady jumps up, yelling, "Oh, shit!" and yelling for Kate and Earl to get over to our side. I looked down and saw all the little toads stacking up on each other, trying to get to the top of the building, where we are. I move my feet and grab my gun. I had only four bullets left and I decided to use them then. So I loaded the gun and started shooting. It took two bullets for one toad thing so I only got two toads.

Kate and Earl came up behind us and saw what was going on. Earl got pissed off but tried to keep it clean in front of Kate. "God damn little…heat seekers."

"What do we do, Earl?" Grady panics.

"Ya gotta stop asking me. _I don't know_!"

"What's going on? What's happening?" Burt yelled.

We ignored him and kept trying to come up with something. I started to swing my gun down at them, trying to make them lose the balance and fall but when one of them was right next to the roof and everybody stepped back except me. I kept trying to hit them but Kate grabbed my arm and pulled me back with the rest of them.

Before we could think of anything, Burt jumped out and was distracting them. "Come get me, you suckers. You hungry? A hundred and eighty pound of lean meat. You know you want it!" and then he runs off, the toads following him.

"What is wrong with him?" Kate questioned.

"He got a plan?" Grady asked.

"Burt always has a plan." Earl responded.

They all turn to him and I add, "Usually."

We didn't see everything he did, but after we were running after him and saw him trap them in the garage, we saw the plan. He closed all the doors and locked them too. He turns around to us and says, proudly, "Problem solved."

We all start cheering and Grady makes a joke by jumping up and kicking the door, yelling inside, "How does it feel to be so stupid?"

We kept laughing, thinking we beat them until we heard them making noises, like they were eating and reproducing. Earl quickly turned to Kate and demanded, "Uh, what's in there, Kate?"

"I-I don't know. Boxes, supplies."

Kate and Earl were trying to think what could be in there while Burt, Grady, and I were looking through the manual. It hit them and they said it out loud, at the same time, "Sweet snack food?"

Grady, Burt, and I look at one another and say, "Rice flour."

We hear a bunch of popping noises and Burt starts yelling, "I didn't know. How could I have known?"

"There'll be a hundred of them!"

"OK, ok. We're gonna run for it!"

"What?!"

"We're not gonna make it!" Kate agrees with me.

Grady started blaming himself for everything but Earl kept saying "Come on, Grady. We ain't dead yet!"

We all start panicking but then Earl gets an idea. "Ok!" he quickly grabs a fire extinguisher.

"Ok? What, what, what ok?"

"I got a plan! Sorta." he answers. "You're gonna squirt me with this." He gestured to the fire extinguisher.

"That right. CO2, it'll make you cold." Kate catches on.

They started arguing about who was gonna go and if it would even work but I didn't join. Instead I grabbed another one and started spraying Earl, without any warning. "Holy SHIT! That's cold!"

Earl covers his head and gets some gloves from Grady. I didn't stop spraying and soon, Kate joined me. Once we stopped, Earl started walking toward the door. "Man, this stuff is cold! Lock this door behind me."

"Lock it?" I yell.

"Yea, I'll get the bombs and go out the other door."

Burt looked hesitant too but he still followed the orders. We kept watching Earl make his way around the garage until he got into the truck. That was when we started noticing he was melting. Grady warned him about it and Earl just picked up the pace.

We knew that he would need help so we got a hose and brought him up. We were trying to get him up but he said, "Go! Run, run! I set a bomb!"

I start to run with Kate and Burt kept trying to ask us what happened. I overheard Burt and Earl as I ran. "Where the hell are the bombs?"

"I don't know. I didn't have time. I just threw one in your truck."

"You WHAT?!"

We all stopped behind a shed and cover our ears but when Burt passes us, he says, "No, no. Keep going. It's gonna be BIG! BIG!"

"Is he serious?" Kate asked.

"Uh, Burt knows his bombs."

We keep running until he hit a trench. Burt says that it'll have to be good enough, that we have to get down, and stay down. "It's gonna be BIG!"

"Is it gonna be TODAY?!" Grady yells.

"Grady get your ass down!" I yell, climbing up with him. Right when I'm about to pull him down with me, everything explodes. The explosion throws Grady and I on the ground, with the others. Except I land first and he lands on me. I feel his arms cover me along with his body. I felt myself shaking and felt more weight on us and thought something had landed on top of Grady.

After everything was done, I hear Earl, "Grady. Charlie. Guys are you alright?" Earl pulls Grady off me and then helps me up. I got up just in time for not being squished by a toad body falling from the sky.

We all take cover and protect ourselves from being hit with something. After we know it's over, we all stand up. I see Grady grab something but I didn't see what. We stand on level ground and stare at what the destruction was.

"You know, Grady?" Burt breathes out. "Some people think I'm over prepared, paranoid, maybe even a little crazy. But they never met any Precambrian life forms, did they?"

Grady walks by my side and asks me, "So, I know you said you don't have a boyfriend, but do you have your eyes on anybody? Everybody has to have a crush."

I look over at him and see a smirk on his face. I respond with a smile. "Yea, actually. There is this one guy. I met him a while ago. I don't know how he feels about me but I, uh I know I definitely like this guy."

"Oh really? What's he like? How'd you two meet?"

I stop walking and look at him. "He's real gentleman like. He's sweet and protective. But not the protective as in _''You can't do anything' _it's more like an _'I don't like seeing you scared and I want to help'_ kind of protective. He's really funny. It seems like he can make me laugh or smile every time he says something. I dropped a few things I was loading up and he helped me put them back in my truck. I asked him if he wanted to get a drink with me and we kind of hit it off there."

"He sounds familiar. What's his name, I might know him."

I look him in the eye and say, "Grady. Grady Hoover."

"So, since you don't have a boyfriend and this guy you like seems to be nowhere in sight, can I do this?" he asks.

"Do wha—"

He cuts me off by grabbing my waist, one hand on the back of my neck, and kissing me. On the lips. I wrap my arms around his neck and he pulls me closer.

When we break apart, he pulls away and looks at me. "I thought you would want this back." He pulls something out of his pocket. I look at it and see it's what he grabbed earlier from the explosion. My eyes widen and they start to water. It was my necklace. I look at him and hug him tight. I whisper thank you in his ear and we pull away.

I turn my back to him and pull my hair away. "Can you put it on me, please?"

I didn't hear a response but I felt the necklace around my neck and I felt his fingers graze the skin of my neck. I shiver again and turn around to him. We look in each other's eyes and kiss again. We pull away once more and Grady throws his arm around my shoulders with a big grin on his face, as do I.

Grady walks over to Earl and Kate with me at his side and says, "Hey, Earl! I just realized, they owe us for 28 worms, man."

Earl gets this big smile on his face and laughs, "Hey, that's right, that's right. We didn't die!"

Everybody laughs and I had to roll my eyes. Grady turns serious for a moment and announced, "All though, we did kinda blow up their refinery."

"Hey, that's all just part of the job." He jokes. "In fact, we ought to charge them for all those little ones too."

"Oh, yea." Grady realizes. "Hey, we'll have enough to start our own theme park. Grady and Earl's Monster World."

"Hey-ey, no way!" Earl argues.

"Come on, Earl. This could be your big third chance."

"Grady, how about you work on your first big chance then you can do your theme park." I suggest.

He looks at me and smiles. "Alright but only for you." He leans down and kisses me on the cheek.

"Alright, I don't mind you two being together and all but you gotta keep everything down to a minimum in front of me. Better yet, in front of everybody, even when you're alone." Earl instructs.

"Yes, sir." Grady and I say at the same time rolling our eyes.

We all laugh and walk toward the big hole that was created from the explosion. I can't help but think, _'It's all over now. We survived. To make it all better too, I think I just got a new life. I think my life just got a little more exciting, even without all the graboids and the toads. I think we're all gonna be just fine.'_


End file.
